Throttled
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
dir. McG.
I have to confess that while watching this film, and this may sound churlish considering that this is clearly a film designed to have action on every last frame, I was bored. It wasn’t the lack of action, or that the plot was lumbering (improbable yes, lumbering, no). I was bored because everything was so over the top that there was no tension—no contrast. At some point, probably during the motocross sequence, I went numb and started to yawn.
But despite that, Full Throttle does have some perfect moments. There is a sub plot involving crime solving by star signs that is absolutely spot on. The cameos are exquisite; Jaclyn Smith (as Kelly Garrett) makes an appearance as a ‘real’ angel, the Olsen twins pose as a new generation of Angels, and Bruce
Willis dies at the hand of an ex-wife.
But all up, this sequel is just too. It is too campy, too goofy, and too spoofy. What I loved about the first Charlie’s Angels was that it played with camp, goof and spoof but one did not drown in them. The miraculous escapes had some tension in Charlie’s Angels, but are so silly in Full Throttle that you don’t care if the heroines escape or not. I love the idea of Charlie’s Angels; I loved the series and I loved the first movie—but you have to give a damn about the characters. With everything Full Throttle puts between Angels and decent characterisation, it is very hard to find a toehold.
Annelise Balsamo
Pleasure principle
Autofocus, dir, Paul Schrader.
Acclaimed director, Paul Schrader (The Comfort of Strangers, American Gigolo) has made a film based on the life and death of actor Bob Crane. The film relies heavily on a memorable performance by Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets) as Crane.
At the outset Crane is happily married (despite a penchant for hoarding pictures of nude women) and presenting a top rating radio program. When he is offered the leading role in a pilot for a new TV series called Hogan’s Heroes, he is unenthusiastic. After all, who has ever heard of a comedy set in a World War II German prisoner of war camp? Eventually he is persuaded that the show can work. The American public love it, and Crane plays Hogan from 1965 for the show’s five-year run. He becomes a national celebrity.
However, from the moment he meets