Checked out the new Charlie’s Angels reboot/sequel. This is a continuation of both the 70s tv show and the Drew Barrymoore reboots… it directly visually and vocally makes reference to the old material and acts as an expansion of the… er… the Charlie’s Angels universe.
Charlie’s lady spy agency has expanded since we last saw it and now they are world-wide. There are agencies across the globe, each with its own Bosley… one of which is the original (allegedly) played by Patrick Stewart who is retiring. He’s being replaced by Elizabeth Banks (who wrote and directed the movie too) and she has her own lady spy team consisting of Kristen Stewart and newcomer Ella Balinska. Their first mission is a razzle dazzle rootbeer MacGuffin of a plot and Naomie Scott (Jasmine from the live action Aladdin) is the client who is trying to alert people that the MacGuffin is dangerous. Insert assassins, costumes, humor, and action.
I didn’t like this movie pretty much at all. As an action movie, it’s really poorly put together with bad editing and shaky cam galore. It’s got particularly cringe humor almost always in the mouth of Kristen Stewart who is an actor I like, but she either can’t do humor or what she’s been given is too bad to pull off. The plot is irrelevant… just an excuse for action set pieces, stunts, and heists (which is fine for this type of movie… though maybe a good plot could have saved everything else that was going wrong). There’s little suspense and, when the movie should be crackling with energy and wit… it doesn’t.
Not everything is terrible… Ella Balinska plays an Ex MI6 operator and she looks great in her action set pieces (primarily when things go slow-mo and we’re not distracted by how bad the action is being filmed). Naomi Scott is the quirky innocent and she’s kind of adorable, I suppose. As i said before, Kristen Stewart is pretty bad when she’s trying for comedy but otherwise she has a cool look to her. But that’s about all I can really say in the movie’s favor… the three women can look pretty cool or act pretty cute at times.
And speaking of cute… or hot… or jiggly… the film was directed by Elizabeth Banks and, yes, the ladies are beautiful but the film doesn’t exploit their appearance in a skeevy or juvenile way. It doesn’t do the “male gaze” thing which you could argue that every previous version of the show has. For all the talk of girl power in the previous two films, you still had a lot of 14 year old T&A. There’s some sexy outfits here too but they are addressed in a more adult, less McG sort of way.
So, yeah, there’s some talent as far as the actors go but not much else to this movie’s credit. I thought it was pretty bad. Which is unfortunate since there’s definitely room for this flick. If it manages to get a sequel, a better, more talented film maker might be able to make it work. I hate to say that since I like Elizabeth Banks a lot… I just think action spy movies might not be her forte (or perhaps she needs a few more directing credits under her belt first).
Score: 58