The 2019 reboot of Charlie’s Angels takes a fresh look at the series, and this time around, puts the connection between Naomi Scott, Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska at the forefront. The film was directed by Elizabeth Banks, who wrote the screenplay that was originally based on a story written by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn. Whilst Charlie’s Angels has been around since 1976, the stories had never hit the big screen up until the 2000’s. The franchise is fairly iconic and whilst it may seem like everyone is running around making reboots these days, Charlie’s Angels does have something to offer to today’s audiences.
The film doesn’t really begin until two of Charlie’s angels, Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart) and Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) that previously worked together to capture international smuggler Jonny Smith, must join forces for a new mission. Sabina and Jane couldn’t be any more different from one another, but over time they learn to work together and have each other’s backs. Whilst Sabina (Stewart) plays a comic relief, Jane (Balinska) is more focused on lining up her targets, particularly with her sniper.
Where Naomi Scott comes into the picture is with character Elena Houghlin. Elena is an innocent scientist trying to make sure that the software she has engineered for ‘Calisto’ is not going to be used to harm people in any way, given that there is a flaw in the programming. When trying to address this to Elena’s supervisor Peter Fleming, she is belittled instantaneously and isn’t given a chance to speak. This is where the angels Sabina and Jane come into the scene to take matters into their own hands, as Elena quickly becomes target to an assassin named Hodak.
There is plenty of action that takes place in the film and it is thrilling and fast-paced. Sabina and Jane work well together and whilst Jane will often go rogue, being the former MI6 agent of the two, that doesn’t mean she won’t assist Sabina in taking down a bad guy. As Elena (Scott) gets caught up in the action-packed world of the angels, she soon learns a few tactics of her own to keep her out of trouble, and of course a few gadgets always help.
With global travel, including a trip to Istanbul, there are plenty of elaborate plans that involve taking down Fleming, Hodak and any other ‘baddies’ that stand in the way. The aim is to stop the selling of ‘Calisto’ to the blackmarket and the angels have to jump through a few hoops in order to achieve this. As time goes on, the bond between the angels becomes stronger and they start to uncover further details around the blackmarket trade of ‘Calisto’.
One particular scene, earlier in the film, that was of interest included Scott, Stewart and Balinska donning bowl cut wigs to impersonate a worker at Scott’s workplace to side-step security enforcement. There are plenty of fun moments sprinkled throughout the film and notable performances from Stewart, Balinksa and Scott respectively. Banks plays Bosley and takes charge of the girls and eventually Scott gets recruited to be an angel, proving herself to be able to get the girls out of a sticky situation time and time again.
Whilst there are plenty of reboots out there, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give Charlie’s Angels a watch. The film has great performances, comical moments and is jam packed with action. With a story that centres around a programmer, and a couple of angels, trying to save the planet from disaster, why not give this one a watch and enjoy watching three fabulous women kick the rear-end of a hell of a lot of bad guys.
Release Date: 13th November, 2019
Joanna Letic