Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Patrick Stewart
Dir. Elizabeth Banks
Where to begin with this, the latest attempt to revive the Charlie’s Angels property? First, and foremost, it must be said that this film, at least creatively, is not the failure that the box office receipts and the general feeling out there on the internet would leave one to believe.
The positives first. The core team here is fantastic. Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and relative unknown Ella Balinska do a tremendous job in their roles and keep this film from going a bit off the rails by easily being the best part of the film from start to finish. Kristen Stewart plays against type here, actually bringing some humor to the part, and it’s a refreshing change. She’s rather funny in this role, and hopefully this kind of thing is something that we’ll see more of from her in the coming years in addition to the dramatic work. Scott and Balinska are just as good, with all three actresses balancing the comedy and action responsibilities of their respective roles quite well.
It should also be noted that Patrick Stewart is on hand here as one of many characters carrying the name “Bosley”. The conceit of the film is that, thanks to the previous efforts of Stewart’s Bosley, in conjunction with the teams that we’ve seen in previous iterations of the franchise, the Townsend Agency has gone international. Stewart is so clearly having fun with what he’s being asked to do in this film, and that shines through when he’s on screen. It also, though, feels as though they only had him for a very limited amount of time. Short of the work being done by the three female leads, Stewart is the other highlight of the film.
Where Charlie’s Angels falters, however, is in most everything else. That’s not to say that it’s a terrible film by any stretch of the imagination, because it’s not. The central plot of the film is actually a fairly interesting one, especially for this type of film, where one would expect the plot to just be an excuse to put the team in various comedic and action-centric situations. To a degree, this is the case, but in the hands of a different creative team, this could have easily been a film that trends more towards the more serious of spy thriller. Borrowing from the current times, the film sees the sees the angels trying to stop the production of an energy conservation device that, while effective, has a defect that causes deadly seizures when used. The ethics of the device are the heart of the early part of the film, as the angels attempt to retrieve the prototype before it’s rushed into production because, as usual, there are deadlines that need to be met. In the hands of more seasoned filmmakers, this plot point could have been more fully explored while still keeping some of the more humorous elements of the film intact, but ultimately the film can’t find that consistency.
Part of the problem revolves around the film not having a particularly strong overall presence. Director Elizabeth Banks (who also costars as the team’s “Bosley”) tries to throw up some red herrings to keep the audience guessing about who is ultimately behind the scheme in the film, but ultimately it isn’t that difficult to figure out. For all of their faults, the two Charlie’s Angles films from the early 2000s succeeded in this department, having quality villains in Sam Rockwell and Demi Moore as their villains. The villain in this edition of the franchise, is excellent when we have them on screen, but is overall hurt by a lack of screen time. The sub-villains that the angels have to work their way through in order to make it to the boss at the end don’t have the same gravitas and aren’t able to successfully carry things on that end of the film.
The film also has some problems with the overall message that it’s trying to push upon its audience. It’s not a bad message by any stretch of the imagination, as this is a film very much wrapped up in “girl power”, which is absolutely fine. To a certain degree, this should be at the absolute heart of anything carrying the name “Charlie’s Angels”. But, at times, it feels as though the film is beating the audience over the head with it, most notably in a title sequence that has little, if anything, to do with the film itself. The film works best when the angels are simply displaying the very traits that the film wants to impart upon the audience, and it’s in those moments that the message is at its most effective anyway.
Unfortunately, given the box office disappointment that this was, there won’t be a sequel. Although a sequel probably would have kept the same creative team, I could have held out hope to see the team back again with a director more steeped in the spy or thriller genre who could have delivered something closer to what this film should have been, and almost was. Even still, it’s a fun picture that features some really good performances from the three female leads. It’s worth a flier if you’ve liked any of the previous iterations of Charlie’s Angles or just want an easy, non-challenging action/comedy to kill a couple of hours.
