Charlie's Angels: Another Franchise Reboot, Another Bland Flop
‘Charlie’s Angels’ caused quite the stir following its release, but was the movie any good? Let’s discuss…
A brilliant scientist invents Calisto — a sustainable energy source that will revolutionize the way people use power. But when Calisto falls into the wrong hands, the Angels must retrieve it before it can be used as a weapon of mass destruction. (via Google)
JeffDLowe (52/100): ‘Charlie’s Angels’ is yet another example of a glossy franchise reboot that crumbles under the weight of poor direction and a weak script. While the Angels themselves (Stewart, Scott & Balinska) have great chemistry as a team, they simply can’t overcome a story that supplied nothing overly engaging or unique.
Being an action movie in 2019 isn’t easy, the standard you have to live up to is very high. With movies like ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ dominating the decade, poor direction and visual representation of your action scenes can essentially tank the movie. The biggest problem with ‘Charlie’s Angels’ is that it just isn’t shot well for an action movie. Everything is shaky and hard to follow, which leaves the audience as far away from the edge of their seats as possible. Take ‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ for example…
That scene right there is the cream of the crop. You can’t shoot action any better than that! Everything is visible, shot in a wide frame and easy to follow… which results in more tension.
Fuck shaky came action scenes.
While the action direction and cinematography may be the movie’s biggest flaw, the biggest shame is the waste of a very likable cast. Kristen Stewart (great when out of the shadows of ‘Twilight’), Ella Balinksa and Naomi Scott are great together as the famous Angels trio. But there isn’t much for them to work with and, if anything, they save ‘Charlie’s Angels’ from being a real disaster. The generic “big scary tech thing that will take over the world” storyline is played out and bland. Everything felt rather predictable (especially the “big” twist) and they really could have gone with something different to liven it up a touch.
It’s also worth noting that this movie flopped hard at the box, which was a well-known story after Elizabeth Banks said that the failure of the ‘Charlie’s Angels’ proves that men don’t see female action movies. I like Elizabeth Banks, don’t get me wrong, but this comment was pretty silly. What I think this movie shows is that (as in no one really saw this movie at all) poorly marketed lifeless reboots of old franchises aren’t a guaranteed success. The problem with ‘Charlie’s Angels’ is that it wasn’t a very good movie. Look at successful female-led action movies like ‘Kill Bill’, the Alien franchise, ‘Alita: Battle Angel’, ‘Tomb Raider’ and more, there are plenty of examples for success with female-led action movies, you just have to put out a desirable product. (I didn’t even mention ‘Wonder Woman’ or ‘Captain Marvel’, as Banks said those don’t count since they are part of a “male genre”… which, cornering that genre in those regards also seems unfair)
Like we’ve seen with franchise reboots such as ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ (or any of the recent release), ‘Ghostbusters’ or ‘The Mummy’, ‘Charlie’s Angels’ isn’t able to offer anything fresh enough or good enough to leave a mark. I have no problem with reboots or sequels, and this one had potential, but it’s crazy to me that we haven’t reached a point where we realize that these movies better be pretty fucking good or they will fall flat upon arrival.
KenJac (63/100): Among this year’s action movies, this movie blends in with the rest of the mid-tier entries. It’s never impressive as an action movie, not overly funny and not particularly suspenseful. It’s a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. The story is one you have heard a billion times and I simply don’t think the intrigue exists for the property like some may think it does. At the end of the day, you will definitely be entertained if that is what you are looking for.
Kristen Scott, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska are all individually good actresses, but the chemistry never really seemed to click between them. The movie itself is really dynamic and fun, but it just doesn’t feel special. It’s B level action scenes and C level comedy for a reboot I’m not sure anyone wanted. It’s already been noted, but the main trio isn’t really a box office draw. What made the early 2000s reboot a success is that Barrymore/Lu/Diaz were all on top of the world when they were cast. Rebooting this 70’s franchise without that same level of star-power was sort of a recipe for box office failure.
The dialogue around the film roots from director-star Elizabeth Bank’s comments that sexism is the reason the movie is falling. To be honest, I don’t think that is the case. Plenty of action movies with female leads are financially viable. ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Captain Marvel’ and ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ were all incredibly popular and made a boatload of cash. ‘Black Widow’ drops soon and will probably make a cool billion. I think this is simply a reboot of a property that isn’t particularly relevant which doesn’t have the star-power to draw in the type of money they were hoping for. There are plenty of extremely shitty incel troll dudes that do, in fact, love to ruin female lead properties. I just don’t think that is what happened here.
Advertisement
—
The movie is Officially Not Buttered with all four combined scores falling well below the threshold. We did an in-depth review of the movie on Lights Camera Barstool but will be diving into ‘Frozen II’ and the Mister Rogers movie, ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ on our next podcast episode. Make sure to rate all 2019 and 2018 movies in the links below.
2019:
January: https://goo.gl/forms/tyUaQnv8QgMyHfcf1
February: https://goo.gl/forms/N98XcvIy3SukhrIw2
March: https://goo.gl/forms/4QbmSMj6wK0feMZ13
April: https://forms.gle/uRUg5xPyfsE8bk9B6
May: https://forms.gle/cdBDBdjNcHZ93sog6
June: https://forms.gle/z3cK9LSRCzNCwxYS8
July: https://forms.gle/8i1B8dMgSADefyU5A
August: https://forms.gle/4ywzQC6BNR818YDU9
September: https://forms.gle/an7c9p5dV1TZHwNK9
October: https://forms.gle/wjyrNUxbX8MYVLHUA
November: https://forms.gle/yVJjxeuNspX2GNjSA
2018:
January: https://goo.gl/forms/nNzX19HbebeQMUAA3
February: https://goo.gl/forms/DWG9TJMISLzUunsu2
March: https://goo.gl/forms/k0dL5ozOrhwJ2Bk03
April: https://goo.gl/forms/Z218hqWq3XGyqi9C3
May: https://goo.gl/forms/f5aYcpJHnBMmkcs52
June: https://goo.gl/forms/1sfizEF3LCTcXFrh2
July: https://goo.gl/forms/czBxbSMjxAUC6CiI3
August: https://goo.gl/forms/QrUn8VtKXvshaWoO2
September: https://goo.gl/forms/99QlmfQM9AQC5xFj2
October: https://goo.gl/forms/nNzX19HbebeQMUAA3
November: https://goo.gl/forms/vhhLrmGdJUnEBeqn1
December: https://goo.gl/forms/waFMZz5jmTCBJkp43