Tag Archives: Luke Wilson

Films: Charlie’s Angels


Charlie’s Angels: Original and Full Throttle

Last night, I watched Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. I planned to watch it for about half an hour and then go to bed, leaving the rest for the following day. But alas, I got so into the film I couldn’t stop it.

charliesangelsdvdcoverDespite the fact that this film is a sequel, it can be watched pretty much as a stand-alone film as long as you understand the nature of Charlie’s Angels and the friendship that the characters have. I, having not entirely realised that the film was a sequel until I had already committed to watching it, watched it out of order. But I have always had knowledge of Charlie’s Angels and although, not being able to recall what happened in the films prior to this re-watching, used to watch them when I was younger.  Fortunately, I have watched the first film since, in order to write a full recommendation.

Actors. The films have an absolutely incredible cast. Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Bernie Mac, Crispin Glover, Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Sam Rockwell, Sean Whalen, Justin Theroux, Shia LaBeouf, Matt LeBlanc, John Cleese and Luke Wilson are but a few.

These films make a very obvious use of sex appeal, so much so the Full Throttle DVD case itself comments on it. This may not be for everyone; after all it wasn’t what attracted me to watching the film but if you overlook that there is so much more to these films to praise them for.

Simply, they are great feel good films; very cheesy but in a way where it uses humour to complement their action and adventure elements. But less simply, Charlie’s Angels promotes strong female characters, as the protagonists are strong female characters; Dylan, Alex and Natalie are the Angels, they need to be strong and skilful physically to win against their opponents but they’re also mentally strong. What’s better is that, in relation to themselves their male opponents are presented as kind of stupid, and their female opponents are extremely intelligent, this applies more so to Full Throttle. This is good because it’s rare that female protagonists are so powerful and even rarer that the females are made to appear more erudite than their male counterparts.  Even now, eleven years since Full Throttle was released, the film industry struggles to fully explore strong female characters. In addition to this, the films promote the importance of friendship and despite parts of the films being, as stated earlier, cheesy, this topic is approached in an inspiring manner by allowing Natalie and Alex’s support of Dylan to be a guiding force in giving Dylan her confidence especially in the second film.

If at first you don’t succeed… do not underestimate the power of Plan B. Throughout Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, different groups of characters, from the Angels to their enemies, refer to their Plan B after their assumed Plan A fell through. I think this has been intentionally overdone to really push the old adage and to show that even for the Angels things don’t necessarily work out first time, but even if the first attempt fails, it’s important that you continue.

The characters of Natalie, Alex and Dylan are so well created too; they complement each other so soundly, being similar enough to hold a good relationship yet being different enough to keep their relationship strong and… choreographically, the fight scenes enhance each characters idiosyncrasies perfectly making these scenes a beauty to behold.

Music in these films is very important in keeping the atmosphere appropriately in line with the story and music is one of the reasons why I think Charlie’s Angels is brilliant. There is just great music all the way through both films. The main soundtrack of Full Throttle is Pink’s Feel Good Time and it fits perfectly. The song itself is brilliant and the video is done so well too. I’ll insert the video here;

And lastly, it wouldn’t be a proper TweetingRawr film recommendation without a comment on make-up and clothes… Rapidly changing throughout the films; the Angel’s makeup and wardrobe is so phenomenally finely done making each of them look so beautiful.


Disclaimer – I do not own the poster, it is from: http://www.currentfilm.com/dvdreviews2/charliesangelsdvd.html