CHARLIE’S ANGELS: A Franchise Fights Itself

Of all the franchises still sputtering along, Charlie’s Angels has to be one the of the strangest. First it was a ’70s TV show that raised fierce debate about its feminist (or not so feminist) tenants, then it was resurrected as campy early ’00s movies trying to have their girl power and ogle them too. Iconic but never quite celebrated, it feels like a brand so weighed down by its history that it could never again rise to the surface.

But that two-word elevator pitch – female spies – provides a tantalizing opportunity to subvert an often horrendously sexist genre of film (I’m looking directly at you, Bond), and the Charlie’s Angels brand allows you to have fun doing it. I mean, sure, you could try to tell your audience to laugh and applaud all on your own; Spy did it by putting Melissa McCarthy in the lead and D.E.B.S. did it by being kitschily terrible, but it’s much easier to slap a known title on the film and let it sell itself.

If that approach seems lazy to you, then that fits how 2019’s Charlie’s Angels turned out. It desperately wants praise for being funny, exciting, and impactful, but the gears grind trying to get all that in. If it weren’t for some terrific performers doing a hell of a lot of work to make the artifice charming, then the whole thing would’ve sunk under its own easily avoidable baggage.

Reckoning With Its Legacy

To say the Charlie’s Angels brand is a hotly contested feminist battleground is a statement of the obvious, and while it’s unfair that simply having women as spies automatically enters it into the conversation, it’s one the current iteration embraces being a part of. It opens with a barely-disguised lecture from Kristen Stewart’s Sabina and rattles through so many talking points that it would make your head spin to list them. This movie knows it has an uphill battle in this arena, and it does everything it can to combat that with the subtlety of a stiletto to the groin.

The most refreshing change of pace here is probably due to writer, director, and co-star Elizabeth Banks, who makes sure these three Angels are more than just eye candy. Yes, there’s still plenty of fun costumes and an endless stream of set pieces (which are really the point of these movies), but while previous entries leered at its protagonists and made them quite obsessed with their boyfriends back home, Banks hits on a self-possessed sense of femininity and sexuality that makes the Angels feel more like a part of the fun than objects delivering it.

Where she gets off track is in trying to do too much. These are, at the end of the day, breezy movies with a very light plot. There’s something about a machine that could be a bomb that they need to make sure doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, which is just an excuse for a series of adventures. Trying to adhere a comprehensive message to a film like that is ill-advised, and as much as Banks tries to shoehorn one in, there simply isn’t enough time to build it up. The film would’ve been better off letting its perspective do the talking and just letting the Angels be Angels, not some awkward, ultimately empty representation of girl power.

All Hail Kristen Stewart (As If We Don’t Already)

The person who best understands what Charlie’s Angels can and should be is Stewart, and if that surprises you, then you haven’t been paying attention. She’s come into her own as a performer post-Twilight, and even if she hasn’t played a lighthearted character in a while, she’s certainly carried her fair share of movies.

Much of the positive energy of Charlie’s Angels flows directly through her, either from her sly punchline deliveries (I can’t tell you how many times the theater I was in took a beat to register one of her jokes before exploding in laughter) to an inviting openness that puts the characters in the film at ease along with the audience watching them. It’s no wonder the other Angels physically lean on her in a moment of exhaustion; she’s carrying this thing, and she does it with the confidence of someone perfectly in tune with what’s needed of her.

Naomi Scott as newcomer Elena feeds off some of her own experience in Aladdin and Power Rangers as an audience conduit, taking in the spy world with wide eyes but never being overwhelmed by it. Ella Balinska struggles more with a rote and underwritten character, left as a straight woman to the others more fun-loving tendencies. She gamely sets up her co-stars, though, and the film thrives when Stewart, Scott, and Balinska bounce off each other.

Uneven Fun

The chemistry of this film’s three leads, with the occasional assist from Banks as group coordinator Bosley, does much to keep the film moving breezily from set piece to set piece, but unfortunately some of these stops are unworthy of their efforts.

Let’s be frank: the hand-to-hand combat in this movie is edited atrociously. It’s done in that quick-cutting style, and you often can’t tell who is where punching what. Luckily, some of the set pieces don’t rely on the Angels getting too physical, and those play out a little more coherently. They still aren’t the film’s strong suit, which is a pretty big detriment, but the movie does nail reveling in their disguises.

Wigs are thrown on and off, layers discarded, and an entire closet is raided. If you’re a connoisseur of jackets, tousled hair, and dresses one step to the classy side of Romy and Michele’s creations, then boy do I have a movie for you. And unlike previous entries in this franchise, they aren’t just about how skimpy the outfits can get. There’s a sense of ease to these looks, one that acknowledges that the confidence of the wearer is what makes it striking and all the more enjoyable for the audience to take in.

Conclusion: Charlie’s Angels

This iteration of Charlie’s Angels is as apt to revel in the series’ hokey trademarks as it is to wipe away the sins of the past. That makes for an uneven movie, but the joy of watching Stewart, Scott, and Balinska relish the lighthearted fun overpowers any shortcomings.

What did you think of Charlie’s Angels? Do you want the series to continue?

Charlie’s Angels is now playing in the US and will release in the UK on November 29th, 2019. For further release dates, click here.