Charlie's Angels (Special Edition)

Charlie's Angels (Special Edition)
by McG

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DVD Reviews of Charlie's Angels (Special Edition)

DVD Review: Charlie's Matrix
Summary: 3 Stars

First of all, the whole film is a parody. Every time the film employs cheesy '70s-esque montage sequences, every time the camera goes wicked slow when the girls toss their hair, and every time an action scene comes up (which takes things from films like The Matrix, Mission: Impossible, and True Lies), it's all a parody. In that sense, this is a funny movie. It has great self-awareness, and doesn't mind shamelessly exploiting its three central stars (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu) in every way possible. And Bill Murray, as always, is funny and goofy as Bosley.

However, the humor does get annoying sometimes. How many times do we have to see the same old girly-giggle jokes, like when Cameron Diaz is interrupted in a fight by a call from her boyfriend? Even if things like that are still meant as spoof, they aren't funny.

As for the story, I'll only mention it in passing, because it's not the focus of the film and it's quite bad anyway. The plot overall seems taken from a bad Bond film: secret agents get assigned top-secret mission vital to ensuring the safety of the world, and then the "least likely" person turns out to be the antagonist (or, as Barrymore's angel once exclaims, "he's the bad guy!"). There are subplots involving the three angels falling in love, which seem pointless to the film and only provide some of the stupid girly humor I just mentioned above.

Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu are fine. As far as acting goes, there's nothing good, but as far as monopolizing on male fantasy, they're skillful. Too bad some people will only see this film for that reason alone, because it is those people that this film makes fun of the most. (Still, I suppose it's required of me to comment on which Angel is my favorite. Well, as far as I'm concerned, Drew Barrymore. There you go.)

I must mention a very pleasant surprise delight in this film: Crispin Glover, aka Mr. McFly from the Back to the Future series. He is simply awesome in this film. He doesn't speak a word, but he has a presence about him that electrifies the screen when he's on. It's partly comedic, and partly serious. The way he manages to look pathetic and threatening at the same time, how he brings a weird and quirky element to his character is great. He looks in command and at the same time paranoid of everything. He's my favorite performance in this film along with Murray.

The action is very good, obviously the best part of the film: zany flips, kicks, chases, and explosions all covered by the interesting, if ripped-off, cinematography. Of course, the martial arts scenes are the best. I have to say that it is a compliment both to this film and, even more so, the film it lifts this from (The Matrix) that the action here, even though meant as mere parody, still remains quite entertaining and visually intense. You can thank the source film for that. If you like the action here, and I don't see why you wouldn't, and if you haven't seen The Matrix, you should. You'll be blown away. But I digress.

In closing, the problem with films like Charlie's Angels (besides awful plot) is that, even though the action is fun, none of it is its own. The action can be good, but it can never be called great, simply because it's not original. It's the tragic flaw. But that doesn't prevent the film from being fun in and of itself. It's a good time.

Description of Charlie's Angels (Special Edition)