Charlie's Angels

Do you have one that is battery powered?

“Another movie from an old TV show,� sighs LL Cool J knowingly during the opening sequence of Charlie’s Angels. And sigh he should - after all, Hollywood has spent the best part of the last decade avoiding the tricky art of bankrolling original stories in favour of revisiting the past that most of their current audience grew up with - television. The debate about whether or not this is a good thing is one that needs to be explored, but that’s for another time and place. Suffice to say that Hollywood’s recent TV remakes and reworkings can be broadly split into two categories. There are those that treat the source material with reverence - indeed, often with a level of reverence that owes more to the filmmakers’ distorted memories of a show’s importance and quality than the original material warrants (for a prime example of this sub-genre, hire the oh-so-serious film version of Lost In Space). And then there are what we’ll call, for lack of a better term, the affectionate semi-parodies. The two Brady Bunch movies succeeded unexpectedly thanks to their use of this tactic, for which the recipe is simple. Take either the original characters or the original concept - or a little of both - and dress them up in of-the-moment situations and locations. License plenty of popular songs - a smattering of both old and new is appropriate here - and assemble a soundtrack album that can be promoted by the record company that your studio owns. Get some big-name stars in both the lead and supporting roles and let them enjoy themselves. Throw in a liberal dose of self-deprecating comedy. Send to a special effects company and cook for six months. Ding! Potential hit - and, if you get it right, the critics might like it too.

If that sounds cynical, it’s only because your hapless reviewer grew up with most of the TV shows that have been making their way to the big screen in recent years. Charlie’s Angels was most certainly one of them. To a schoolkid in the throes of adolescence, the show was the pinnacle of high-octane TV drama, loaded with larger-than-life bad guys, plentiful glitz and amazing locations, and three women that made Nancy Drew obsolete five minutes into the pilot episode. Now, it’s important to point out that this was the ‘70s, a time when the theme music to Space 1999 sounded like cutting-edge innovation. And Charlie’s Angels hasn’t stood the test of time much better than anything else of its era. Seen in the harsh light reflected from nearly three decades it looks sloppy, tired and impossibly cheesy; even ‘70s Bond movies never went this far in their pursuit of bad hair, silly plots and obnoxious glamour. And while those who were there at the time get to giggle in nostalgic embarrassment, Charlie’s Angels was going to need a serious update for the 21st century. Here’s where we meet McG.

Hang on. Mc… who?? Could this young director constantly being mentioned on Entertainment Tonight really be called “McG�? And does this “debut director� who shares his name with a cricket stadium really have the skill to helm a mega-budget box-office drawcard? Well, as it turns out, the answer’s yes to both questions. Joseph McGinty Nichol has made a hugely successful career for himself directing music videos for the likes of Korn, The Offspring and Barenaked Ladies. And we all know by now that if you want a hyperactive director for your potentially hyperactive action film, you hire a music video guy, and succumb to his inevitable demand that he gets to do it under a pseudonym and in Cinemascope. You then reserve a good quarter of the budget for camera cranes of all varieties, a small army of Steadicams and a very, very fit cinematographer. Game on.

Taking the affectionate semi-parody route was the only way that Charlie’s Angels was going to work on the big screen for modern audiences, and in that department the film delivers. The writers and producers have opted to keep the actual plot as straightforward and simple as possible, and the script exists largely to serve three purposes: to paint the three Angels in bright, lurid and slinky Technicolour, to cram in as many in-jokes as possible and, most importantly, to deliver big, obnoxious action sequences enhanced by big, obnoxious visual effects. Curiously, the background story behind the whole thing is never fully explained, which won’t bother those who know the TV series well, but could easily confuse the hell out of everyone else.

Girls just want to have fun.

In a nutshell - and the story here is nutshell-sized - three unmistakably voluptuous women have been recruited and trained by mysterious rich person Charlie (voiced, as he was in the series, by Richard Forsyth) and now work undercover at his detective agency, which somehow has become an all-stops-out crime-fighting militia since we met the last batch of TV Angels. Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Dylan (Drew Barrymore) and Alex (Lucy Liu) head off to tackle heady assignments at the behest of Charlie’s still-70s-era speakerphone and are assisted by the affable Bosley (Bill Murray). In this cinematic instalment, the Angels find themselves fighting the forces of evil, as is the Hollywood way - but this time, the evil forces are after Charlie himself, and no-one can be trusted. To say more would give too much away of what little plot there is, but suffice to say Tim “always the evil guy� Curry is not the most evil guy here.

"But wait," I hear you yell. "Did the reviewer just say that there was no major plot in this film?" Well, yes he did. But that’s not the point here. As the trailers slyly pointed out, the whole thrust of this movie is action, and in that department it delivers, and then some. Blessed with the unique style-merging skills and fascination for hyperactive camerawork of the music video director, McG keeps the adrenalin level on eleven for most of the film’s 94 minute running time, pausing only for the briefest of necessary character or story exploration. Aided by a mountain of computer-aided effects (not all of them convincing, unfortunately) and plentiful Matrix-style kung-fu-on-wires, he creates a hyper-real visual feast that’s completely over-the-top and somehow manages to get away with it. The action ethic is highlighted by the use of second unit director and stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, who fans of the Bond movies will know all too well. There’s no particular dramatic skill on display here. No one cares.

The three leads are terrifically entertaining as the Angels, with Diaz very obviously having a fun time. Lucy Liu comes very close to reprising her Ally McBeal TV role of the icy-cool Ling with her character here, while Barrymore shows an action side we never knew she had, as well as a complete lack of ability to moonwalk. Those watching this for “the girls� will be well pleased with the amount of flesh on display here, as Diaz and Barrymore up the stakes of the ‘70s series by showing as much cleavage as possible at every opportunity, something that’s played as much for laughs as it is for sex appeal - and though Liu seems reluctant to be quite as outgoing in that department, she makes up for it with an amusingly stern scene in front of a room full of computer programmers (!).

The supporting cast features some notable names, including Crispin Glover as the “thin evil guy�, along with Kelly Lynch, Matt LeBlanc (Friends), Tom Green and even (very briefly) US game show host and consummate cameo man Alex Trebek, as well as the aforementioned Tim Curry and LL Cool J.

So is it fun? Hell yeah. Don’t expect anything insightful, but do crank up the volume, grab your preferred relaxant and suck in the visuals. “We just wanted to take every element of filmmaking and turn it up to eleven,� says McG in one of the DVD’s featurettes. And that sums up this large-scale live-action cartoon perfectly - it may be the antithesis of serious cinema, but Charlie’s Angels is undeniably an eye-popping ride.

The chicks like it HOT.

Sony’s DVD Center work their usual magic with this transfer, which is presented at an accurate aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16:9 enhanced (the film was shot using the Super 35 format). As usual working with a modest average bitrate but upping the data rate substantially when needed, Sony deliver a DVD image that’s rich in colour saturation and high on detail. It’s worth noting, though, that some visually “difficult� scenes display noticeable aliasing, colour noise or other artefacts, and while they won’t trouble the majority of viewers, taking advantage of the quite substantial unused space on this dual layered disc could have solved the problem and made this a true state-of-the-art DVD in terms of video quality.

The film-to-video transfer itself is also of a high standard, though some problems arise in scenes utilising traditional optical effects such as split-screen, where dust and scratches are clearly evident.

As a whole, though, the video here is vibrant and clean, and despite the occasional problem it still rates as a very high quality transfer, showing off the movie’s visual thrills with crisp clarity and stability.

One major criticism, though, is the DVD’s use of the subtitle streams as a replacement for the heavily stylised subtitles on the theatrical print. Presented in a blocky font that’s completely at odds with the visual style of the movie, it’s a case of utility over art that should never be repeated.

Action movie, action soundtrack. The audio in Charlie’s Angels is critical to the success of the film, and ample use has been made of the surround sound field, even going so far as to place actor’s voices directionally where appropriate on occasion. Those with Dolby Digital or Surround systems are in for a treat, as effects whiz around the speakers at will, truly absorbing the viewer in the on-screen action. The soundtrack here makes heavy use of pop, rock and dance music, and it’s to the re-recording mixers’ credit that despite all the buy-our-soundtrack audio chaos, the dialogue is never less than crystal clear. Dynamic range on this soundtrack is wider than usual, and those who crank up the volume early are in for some serious structural damage to their viewing room as the film progresses.

James Bond has nothing on these weapons and disguises.

This “Collectors Edition� comes loaded with plenty of well-produced and informative material, though its presentation isn’t quite what it could have been. The first thing you’ll notice (after the brand new and wonderfully low-key Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment trailer) are the unashamedly full-on full-motion menus, which are 16:9 enhanced and appear cleverly side-cropped on a standard TV. The scene selection menus are a bit of a let-down - not only are they static, but they also offer only thumbnail images to identify each scene, an approach that unfortunately seems to be becoming more common. Head for the Extra Features menu and you’ll be greeted with three screens of enticing bonus features - however, two of these screens lead to a total of six relatively short video items (all with excellent 4:3 video quality) about specific aspects of the film’s production, which would have been better assembled into a half-hour featurette - indeed, the second of these mini-documentaries closes with a full set of credits for the entire special features section, implying that a single documentary was the original intention. Another annoying thing here is the menu navigation: the authoring here is incredibly slack and unintuitive, and every single extra feature, on completion, drops you back to the first of the three menus at the Getting G’d Up item, requiring a cavalcade of button presses to get back to where you were. But enough of the criticism - on to the good stuff…

Welcome To Angel World: An introduction to the concepts and ideas behind the production of Charlie’s Angels, with director McG waxing enthusiastic about the simple fact that the film’s supposed to be larger than life, conceived as a kind of live-action Saturday morning cartoon with every scene a “new page in a storybook�. The task of updating the TV show for today’s audiences is tackled, and we find out interesting bits of info along the way - for example, Charlie’s speakerphone is the exact same model used in the TV series, and the stylised (what in this film isn’t stylised?) bathroom was directly based on the bathroom from Kubrick’s The Shining.

Getting G’d Up: A short profile of director McG, who wastes no time proving that he’s a full-throttle guy who had an enormously good time making the film. Bill Murray sums the man up perfectly: “If you put a nickel in McG, he’ll do the entire movie shot by shot from start to finish.� McG reveals his inspirations when preparing rhe film included everything from the Bond movies and Austin Powers to The Matrix and old Hollywood musicals…!

The Master And The Angels: Martial Arts Choreographer Cheung-Yan Yuen is profiled here, with McG and others giving their opinions on the man that they consider to have been essential to the action scenes’ success - scenes that drew inspiration from classic Hong Kong cinema. Footage of the man at work is included as the cast and crew quite rightly sing his praises.

Angelic Attire: As the title suggests, a look at the thinking behind the costumes for the three Angels, with costume designer Joseph Aulisi explaining how he helped give each woman her own visual character through the various costumes designed for them.

Angelic Effects: A look at the very, very complex computer effects work that went into the movie, where a planned 120 effects shots blew out to around six hundred, many of them amazingly complex. This featurette also covers the car stunts, ammunition effects and the (very, very large scale) explosions in the film.

Wired Angels: By way of illustrating how the Hong Kong-style action sequences were done, a rough edit of the alley fight is shown with the actors’ wires still visible - they’d be removed later on a computer. Fascinating to watch, and obviously very, very challenging for the actors.

Deleted And Extended Scenes: Three bonus scenes, all introduced and explained by McG: two are not present in the final cut at all (and are great inclusions, especially put in context by the director) and the third is a longer version of a minor scene that did make it to the finished movie.

Outtakes And Bloopers: The end credit sequence of the movie, presented with the text removed but the optical work intact. It would have been nice to see some longer, complete “bloopers� here, but what is here is still good fun, soundtracked by Blink 182’s All The Small Things.

Music Videos: Two songs recorded for the film - Apollo Four Forty’s Charlie’s Angels 2000 and Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women Part 1. Both clips are of broadcast quality, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio at a suitably decent level for pop music.

Filmographies: Five of Columbia’s usual “snippets and selections� bios, for McG, the three Angels and Bill Murray. This is one area that Columbia Tristar desperately needs to improve, as it’s a valuable resource for film fans even if they are only text screens.

I said, I've already got a drink and a boyfriend.

Theatrical Trailers: Unusually for Australia, a trailer feast - though the bonus trailers are different from those on the US DVD. There’s an excellent teaser and a full theatrical trailer for Charlie’s Angels (and notably the writer credits at the end of the teaser - done before the film had been completed - omit Men In Black and Bill And Ted writer Ed Solomon, who is prominently credited in the final trailer and the movie itself). And then there’s a few extras - trailers for My Best Friend’s Wedding (a strange inclusion, as it’s been out on DVD for ages - though it does star Cameron Diaz), Vertical Limit and Almost Famous. Kudos to Columbia Tristar for this - it’s nice to be able to see previews of upcoming discs, something that US DVD fans have enjoyed for a while.

Audio Commentary: If you’ve watched the featurettes before listening to this audio commentary by McG and cinematographer Russell Carpenter, you’ll know what to expect. This is a sensational commentary, both immensely fun and very informative, as both McG and Carpenter talk enthusiastically, intelligently and humorously about the making of Charlie’s Angels. There’s rarely a dull moment, and the pair’s sense of fun and obvious rabid fandom is infectious. One of those rare commentaries that’s an absolute joy to listen to.

It’s not high art. Hell, it’s not art at all, at least in the traditional sense. But with actors and debuting director having such a great time creating this heavily stylised pop-culture take on a long-gone TV series, the sad creative void of modern mainstream Hollywood can be brushed aside - largely thanks to the anarchic out-there vision of a first-time director having the time of his life. In the end, Charlie’s Angels has very little in common with the TV show that it’s spawned from - and that, of course, is why it works so well. While Columbia Tristar’s DVD isn’t perfect, it’s damn close - and it's loaded with fascinating extra material on top of a generally excellent film transfer, making it one to add to your collection for those nights where fun - and things that go boom - are all-important.