A continuation of the Charlie’s Angels TV series (1976-1981) and the Noughties films (2000-2003), this 2019 iteration introduces a new trio of Angels (Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska) who have to protect the world from a new menace which might have connections to their own agency…
I missed this one in theaters. I have never watched the show but I caught the McG movies on the TV about ninety million times.
This movie is not great - the script is a bit bland and the direction is sloppy. The action is poorly shot and edited.
But the thing that saves the movie is the cast, particularly Kristen Stewart and newcomer Ella Balinska.
They are having fun and have good chemistry - the movie is all over the place but they make it way more fun than it would be.
Newcomer Balinska matches her co-stars as a hard-as-nails ex-super spy. She makes it feel like this is the fourth or fifth installment in her own franchise.
Kristen Stewart is having a ball as a slightly scattered heiress - it is her loosest performance in a while, and feels like the filmmakers gave her an opportunity to blow apart her popular image. Stewart is a great actress, and she gives this movie an energy it desperately needs. She is basically the Han Solo of this movie.
The script is good in certain respects - the movie does focus on how women are marginalised and ignored in the workplace - but it feels like ground that was already covered in 2015’s Spy.
I like that the movie is a sequel to the previous iterations, but I spent the movie wondering if it would have worked better if this movie was not a remake and just developed its own riff on the central premise (the ‘rip off don’t remake’ idea).
While it has some significant problems, I left Charlie’s Angels ‘19 rather satisfied. It bombed on release so there is little chance of a sequel. It has gained a small cult following in the last few years, and I can see why.
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