By Cher Antido
The Angels of Townsend Agency make a comeback with Elizabeth Bank’s “Charlie’s Angels,” but it doesn’t live up to the expectations of fans of the original 2000 movie.
“Charlie’s Angels” is about three girls working as private investigators for Townsend Agency, led by an anonymous millionaire named Charlie. The 2019 movie is less of a remake than a continuation where Townsend Agency expands and employs various Angels from all over the world.
The plot itself isn’t supposed to be good. It’s the average story where the good guys beat the bad guys. If people were to watch the movie, they would watch it for the main cast playing as sexy airheads who can put up a punch.
The original 2000 movie featured Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu– all of which are fairly popular in their own time. The 2019 movie features Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska as the three angels that saves the world. The movie might attract those who’ve seen the 2000 version and teens who are fans of the cast, but they certainly wouldn’t be watching it for the plot.
It was disappointing to see the lack of pizzaz from the main cast in the reboot. It’s clear that director Elizabeth Banks was trying to show women empowerment with Stewart’s character Sabina and having every bad character male, but it fails to keep the audience engaged in the story.
Scott and Balinska’s acting are nothing more than average. However, it’s to be expected from
up-and-coming actors. Scott plays as the scientist that asks for the help of Angels. Her character is shown to be pure and good, quite the opposite of what the original Angels showed in 2000.
Banks’ choice of the cast totally changed the image of the “2000 Charlie’s Angels.” She tries to add a modern-feminist spin to it wherewomen ght with their skills andbrains. It would be better to treat it as a separate movie rather than a continuation of the franchise.
If there’s one good thing about the 2019 version, it would be Kristen Stewart and how she played her character. From playing the character of Bella from the “Twilight” Saga, Stewart switched out of the “pretty-face” roles and chose to play as characters where she can be comfortable.
“It’s not like, ‘We need to empower women.’ It’s actually a story told by an empowered woman, so it’s sort of imbued with that feeling,” Stewart said in an interview with Variety.
2019 Charlie’s Angels opens with Stewart’s character, Sabina, in disguise, wearing a blonde wig, a tight dress and high stilettos as a rich man tries to lecture her about how men should be in charge.
“At my job, it’s actually considered a huge advantage to be a woman,” Sabina says. Then as she ties up the man while he’s still enamored by her, she adds, “it takes men an additional seven seconds to perceive a woman as a threat compared to a man.”
That scene is perhaps the only memorable thing from the plot besides the ending. Everythingelse is subpar ghting scenes, anokay array of music from Ariana Grande and scripting that could’ve been better.
Although the 2000 version isn’t all that good either, at least the cast make up for it. Barrymore, Diazand Liu were all t to be Angels.It seems that Scott and Balinska could’ve worked more for their roles.