Charlie’s Angels
Ratings: 3.2/5
Duration: 1 Hrs 58 Mins
Director: Elizabeth Banks
Genre: Action, Comedy, Adventure
Release Date: 15 November, 2019 (India)
Star Cast: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, Djimon Hounsou, Sam Claflin, Jonathan Tucker, Nat Faxon, Chris Pang, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Noah Centineo, David Schutter
Plot: When a young system engineer blows the whistle on a dangerous technology, Charlie's Angels are called into action, putting their lives on the line to protect all.
The Angels case centres on super-smart systems engineer Elena (Scott), who has programmed a device called Calisto, a form of sustainable green energy that replaces the need for the traditional electrical grid. Seeming to work as a Tesla-inspired wireless energy source, Calisto is going to change the world. But in the wrong hands, Calisto can also be weaponized as an instrument of mass killing.
Review: Written and directed by Elizabeth Banks, starring Kristen Stewart, Ella Balinska, and Naomi Scott, the action-comedy takes a tried and tested formula and makes it fresh once again. Audiences have been watching the trio of lady spies known as Charlie’s Angels for more than 40 years now. It all started as a television show on ABC in 1976. Over 20 years later, there were feature reboots in 2000 and 2003 starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu, both from director McG. Then in 2011, a television reboot appeared on ABC, but failed to match the success of the original, resulting in scathing reviews and eventual cancellation.
As the latest wave of Hollywood reboot fever rolls on, the story has been reimagined. The newest iteration of the Angels keeps that tradition alive, but brings a grounded quality to the storytelling, that makes it a hit with action fans as well as those looking for some campy nostalgia.
The prior versions of Charlie’s Angels bear almost no resemblance to its latest iteration. While the basic premise is still the same - three women spies work for an unknown millionaire boss named Charlie through his proxy (Bosley).
Stewart, Scott and Balinska ably hold their own onscreen. These lady spies express their femininity and sexuality in ways that give their characters depth, rather than reducing them to objects and aren’t dumbing themselves down to shore up the egos of their clueless boyfriends like the Angels of the past. Moreover, Kristen Stewart offers up a performance that will spark many awakenings and feelings in audiences young and old, and aside from that, she's also incredibly funny.
The film is filled with impressive and bombastic set-pieces that show off Elizabeth Banks talent for shooting action.
The film was shot mostly in Germany and Turkey and features characters that will organically appeal to an international audience. There’s even an opening montage of images of optimistic, powerful girls from every corner of the globe to put spotlight on a wide swath of women and girls that mirrors the world, not just the U.S. It feels out of place until you gradually begin to realize that Banks has made a meaningful effort to get young girls to see themselves in the film. It’s a touch that effortlessly draws attention to the rarity of experiencing this kind of wide-ranging feminist gaze in big-budget action films.
At just under two hours the female-led action-adventure film certainly doesn't drag. The result is a wildly entertaining action flick that also happens to expose the systemic ways that men are overvalued, and women are undervalued in society. Overall an entertaining plot, impressive script, fantastic cast, and awesomely shot action that makes Charlie's Angels one of the most unexpectedly fun films of the year.
