An Angel Gets Her Wings - Charlie's Angels (REVIEW)

written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)

Another reboot, a new era, and arguably a very different setting. The Angels are back and after a good 16 years since Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle, a new cast of women are primed to continue the long history of ass kicking ladies who take on some serious threats. Personally, I was apprehensive going into this one. I did not know if I could let myself enjoy a Charlie’s Angel flick that did not have Lucy Liu, my girl Drew, or Cameron D… let alone one without a Destiny’s Child track… but ya know, I was pleasantly surprised with this outing and hope for big things.

Starring Kirsten Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska as our trio of angels with Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, and Djimon Hounsou each acting as a Bosley. The cast I felt was full of talent despite not hinging on any big stars, but hey now… big names don’t make a fun flick, we all remember George Clooney as Batman.

So, this reboot is far from rebooting the original television series or the McG films. A new team of Angels takes center stage here. When Elena Houghlin (Scott) a young systems engineer plans to blow the whistle on how the tech her company has been developing could be turned into a deadly weapon; her life changes forever when an assassin is sent to kill her. Fortunately, Angels Sabina Wilson (Stewart) and Jane Kano (Balinska) save her life and ceremoniously induct the newcomer as an honorary Angel for the duration of the movie. Supported by Bosley (Banks) these ladies unravel a larger conspiracy, with this dangerous tech at the center of it.

First and foremost, I feel like touching on the performances here. What I loved about the McG films and growing up watching the original TV series as reruns was how fun and campy the whole thing was. I mean, these are ladies who kick ass with the best of them while looking fabulous. I felt like the trio worked very well together and the chemistry of the three was what made the movie stand out for me. Kristen Stewart I felt killed it in her turn as Sabina, I know people like to poke fun at her because of the whole Twilight stuff… but honestly, she’s a great actress with serious range. She played the Twilight character so dead-eyed and listless because the paper-thin character herself was dead-eyed and listless. I wouldn’t want to fault the actress for playing a character the way it was written… no matter how badly written the character was. So Sabina was my personal crush through the whole thing, looking absolutely stunning in evening attire and damn near stealing every scene with a hyper-active energy that was so damn infectious. Opposing the high-energy of Stewart’s Sabina, Ella Balinska’s Jane played a perfect straight-man. Acting as the serious operative, almost at the polar opposite of where Sabina stood. This was felt in the pair’s first interaction where after hooking Sabina into her rappel line, Jane yeets her right off the roof. Naomi Scott’s turn as the wide-eyed newbie was endearing, I loved her in Aladdin and I hope to see more of her in the coming years.

In the current socio-political climate, it may be tempting for movies to latch on to “feminism-yay” moments. But in some recent films, like Endgame for example, these moments felt manufactured and forced rather than natural. While that scene in Endgame was meant to be empowering, it felt like a “feminism-yay” scene written by men trying to pander to the ladies in the audience. I was so glad that none of that was felt here in Charlie’s Angels. While it does have it’s fair share of “feminism-yay” (I swear, last time) moments, and some of it was pure camp… none of it felt forced or manufactured. They occurred at times that felt like natural progressions of the narrative rather than a forced, shoe-horned in, moment that seemed to lack any form of sincerity.

Of course, the narrative is weighed down by some weak storytelling… especially in the third act. The build up to the climax felt like this was on the way to do something incredibly badass. Flip flopping the villains multiple times and eventually centering on a villain I didn’t expect but I feel was a mistake to make that character a villain. I won’t spoil it for you but if had the same air about it as the first Mission Impossible film. I guess one can argue it’s better than just slotting a villain in… or sticking to the villain they made it out to be. But still it’s a shame they went that route.

Overall though, I found Charlie’s Angels to be a riotous good time. A reboot that seemed to capture what made the media that came before it so charming. This movie knows what it was supposed to be, it stays in its lane while also adding to the overall canon of the franchise. I hope to see more from these ladies and this franchise, while it wasn’t perfect I still walked out of the theater smiling from ear to ear.

C

A fun action flick with all the camp and charm of the franchise