Charlie’s Angels: Stylish and strong (Reviews)

Charlie’s Angels: Stylish and strong (Reviews)

In the ’70s, when Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith played crime-fighting ‘Angels’ with an unseen boss called Charlie Townsend, in the TV series Charlie’s Angels (created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts), it was such a hit, that there have been multiple spin-offs, sequels and movie versions, including the unauthorised Hindi copy Ashanti (1982-Umesh Mehra). The latest, directed by Elizabeth Banks just hits the cinemas, and even though the novelty value of women doing action sequences has diminished over the years, the feminist echoes are still heard.

The ‘Angels’ in the 2019 version are played by Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska, with Naomi Scott as a newbie, science nerd, who can hack into anything. After Patrick Stewart’s Bosley retires, Elizabeth Banks takes over the role of one of the many Bosleys (It’’s a rank, like Lieutenant, she explains) to drive the young women to globe-trotting adventures in the search of a powerful weapon.

One side effect of having female investigators is their costumes and disguises can be attractively trendy. So what the new Charlie’s Angels lacks in the area of plot or character development, it makes up in sass and style.

The film opens with Sabina (Stewart) being propositioned by a clearly smitten ‘Australian Johnny’ (Chris Pang), who soon discovers that the slinky woman he is dating can kick ass, along with her tall and tough cohort Jane (Balinska). The Townsend Agency is approached by Elena (Scott), who had worked on a sustainable energy source called Calisto, that has a glitch that can turn it into a deadly weapon. She is worried because her condescending boss Peter (Nat Faxon) won’t let her fix the glitch, and she suspects something evil is afoot, that the company’s owner Brock (Sam Claflin) does not know about.

Of course, the locations are gorgeous, and Stewart with her droll act is a hoot, but the pursuit of Calisto is just not exciting enough, when compared to other action franchises like the Bond films, the Mission Impossible or The Fast And The Furious series, that always have a bit more heft when it comes to plotting. It also needed a sense of mischief, some emotional depth, and definitely more sex appeal. From the point of view of the female gaze, that is. Look at the men they work for or flirt with (lab geek — Noah Cetineo), and heck, a robot-like assassin (Jonathan Tucker) seems like the pick of the lot; and in future films in the franchise — if there are any — there must be more of Saint (Luis Gerardo Mendez), the Angels’ chef and wellness guru.

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