Box office and reviews have been tough on the new Angels. I guess today the contrarian corner is a theme here at TFE. Tony likes it! - editor.
by Tony Ruggio
We'll start with where I'm coming from: I’m no fan of the original series. The early-Aughts adaptations were mostly forgettable save a dance or two from Cameron Diaz and Sam Rockwell. But these 2019 Angels are surprisingly fresh and fun. It’s an IP brought back from irrelevant hell and updated with verve.
About the three new Angels. Elizabeth Banks is clearly in love with Kristen Stewart, and who can blame her? Stewart is a charisma machine as the weird, spunkiest Angel of the bunch. She's so good you almost wish she took movie star roles more often. You also forget there was once a time when she got gruff for playing mopey all the time. Those days are long gone...
Naomi Scott fulfills her audience surrogate role very amiably and eventually shines when given the chance to get rough and tumble. With a scrappy, clumsy, seriously funny fight scene she goes from obligatory "relatable girl" stock type to totally endearing. Ella Ballinska proves any doubters wrong and could be a future movie star herself if America would get off its ass and go to the movies for actors again. The three of them have tremendous chemistry, and Banks has figured out how to make us care about them as a unit.
The car chases and assorted action could be more exciting, sure, suffering from what seems to be a lower-than-expected budget. Banks does her best with what she's got, although the formal elements are rather inconsistent. There are moments when it looks like motion-smoothing was left on by accident or others when there’s sudden graininess in a mildly low-light setting. Strange editing choices abound as well, such as action-oriented jump cuts that recall CBS procedural stunt work. You know the kind, when a cop and star of the series (or his stuntman) leaps into the back of a dump truck to chase the big baddie and the stunt shot is repeated more than once for dramatic effect. Perhaps it’s meant as a throwback to the 60’s series, but it’s a jarring choice in a film that is otherwise concerned with updating for today.
It's difficult to whine too much about such nitpicks though when Patrick Stewart is camping it up, Sam Claflin is getting the rare opportunity to play a buffoon, and Jonathan Tucker is adding just enough depravity to make the Angels’ archnemesis, a guy just called "the assassin," more than a mere lowly henchman. Banks is phoning it in just a bit, likely the result of pulling double duty as an actor and director. No matter, because her directing duties have produced a girl power extravaganza.
2019 Charlie's Angels is a rarity, a franchise reboot that mostly works and makes you want to come back for more. The box office has been terrible so unfortunately we likely won’t be seeing these particular angels together again. Still, it’s comforting to know that people might rediscover it many years from now. Stay late for cameos. B