Mike and I went to see Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle last night at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. Nice theater, by the way, but the movie isn't going on my list of must-see films.

I will admit up front that I enjoyed the first Charlie's Angels film. It was a nice campy send-up of the 1976-1981 TV series and included great "scenery" and some very fun acting. At the time, I compared it to Our Man Flint in terms of being a campy homage to the original (Flint referring to the Bond films, of course).

However Full Throttle jumps right past the campy homage and goes for an Austin Powers-like over-the-top handling of the material. There is certainly no lack of "scenery" in this film either, but whatever subtlety and grace that existed in the first film was lost on this one. Everything is in your face and the scenes are welded together with quick cuts that leave you wondering how you got from one place to the next.

In my opinion, they could have left the original alone without the sequel, but I'm guessing that they will make enough money from this one to do an Angels 3.

The most interesting part of the film is the return of Demi Moore. Demi plays a bad girl (don't yell at me, it's in the trailer) and she comes off as aloof and cold (which she is supposed to be), but the scenes focussed on her are just a bit drawn out and leave you looking for your watch. However, she does look like she is in very good shape.

All told, if you really want to see this, go, but most people who will find this film compelling will probably prefer it on VCR or DVD...