This Angels flick is about the women like never before
Charlie’s Angels is the reboot you never knew you needed in your life. As writer, director, producer and costar, Elizabeth Banks has achieved a tricky (if somewhat inconsistent) balance between revelling in the playful, escapist fun of the original 1970s TV detective series and asserting a wholly necessary and modern feminist vision. Her movie is brisk and knowingly silly, but it also slows down occasionally to allow her characters to connect and interact as strong, loyal women looking out for each other.
Of course, the clothes are great: racks of shimmery, sequined knockouts and rows of fierce pumps. And it wouldn’t be a Charlie’s Angels adventure without a variety of wild costumes for the ladies to don for their undercover assignments as well as an assortment of high-tech gadgets.
This much is clear from the film’s opening sequence in which a platinum-wigged Kristen Stewart (who runs away with this movie — more on that later) seduces a shady businessman over dinner in all the most obviously flirtatious ways. The fact that he has no idea she’s slowly but surely tying him up in literal knots is a testament to her skills but also his idiocy. Men can be malleable, and the women of Charlie’s Angels know how to use that to their advantage.
Established Angels Sabina (Stewart as a bad-girl heiress) and former MI6 agent Jane (the commanding and charismatic stunner Ella Balinska) team up with the brilliant, young engineer who devised the technology and blew the whistle on its possible improper use to keep bad guys from stealing it for their own nefarious purposes. Elena (Naomi Scott of the liveaction Aladdin) is our conduit into this glamorous and dangerous world, but her scientific strengths also provide just the right complement for this team. If the statuesque Jane is the all-business brawn and Sabina is the quick-witted, wildcard decoy, Elena is the exceedingly capable brains of the operation, and it doesn’t take her long to get up to speed.
Charlie’s Angels is truly about the women in a way it never has been before, for better and for worse. The girl-power vibe that provides the film’s energy is unmistakable and often exhilarating, but it can also be heavy-handed. We didn’t need an opening montage of girls and women doing awesome things around the globe; it’s clunky and feels out of place. Similarly, while it’s an intriguing and relevant detail that one of Jane’s former informants in Istanbul also runs a women’s clinic, we didn’t need to see the van full of birth control pills and tampons the Angels provide to understand that this is an important service.
These are minor speed bumps along a breezy ride, though. And no matter the setting — from massive action set pieces (which are sometimes choppily edited) to quieter moments of the Angels sitting around chatting — it’s obvious that Stewart is having a blast letting loose in a rare comic role. She’s magnetic in an entirely different way. She’s never had the opportunity to show off her off-kilter timing or her inspired physicality quite like this. Her Sabina is a constant surprise — not just for us, but for the villains around the world who have the misfortune of finding themselves in her sights.