Audiences blessed with ‘Charlie’s Angels’
Film flops during opening weekend despite almost perfect performance
Ella Balinska, Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Scott prepare to fight. “Charlie’s Angels,” released Nov. 15, is an action-packed movie that will have you dying laughing and on the edge of your seat.
You know it’s a great film when even your father who falls asleep in every movie stays awake and agrees with you.
Since this is the fifth remake of the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise overall, many expect the plot of this movie to be the same as all the others. Although this is somewhat true, the 2019 version is still able to put a twist on the classic tale that is a group of three women who team up to take down the bad guy.
[T]hese women go on a mission to get this dangerous technology out of the wrong hands while also discovering a deeper secret that puts the Townsend Agency at risk.
— A&E Editor Jordan Owens
In the 2019 “Charlie’s Angels,” the film follows one of the three women, Elena Houghlin, who starts out working for the wealthy bad guy. This man plans to use his team’s technology as a weapon and distribute it throughout the world.
Later, Elena reports her boss to the European branch of the now-international Townsend Agency. After figuring out that her boss is trying to kill her so she does not tell people about what their technology can really do, angels, Sabina Wilson and Jane Kano, are then assigned to the case.
With the help of Elena, these women go on a mission to get this dangerous technology out of the wrong hands while also discovering a deeper secret that puts the Townsend Agency at risk.
To start off, this movie had a phenomenal cast and even some legendary actors such as Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks.
Stewart, who played Sabina, stole the show and lightened the sometimes eerie moods with her witty remarks. I feel that compared to some of the other movies Stewart has done, this character suited her the best. Since this character’s personality matched Stewart’s so well, she was able to execute a wonderful performance.
I love how it shows women empowerment and women taking more major roles in a movie’s creation.
— A&E Editor Jordan Owens
Another actor who gave a solid performance is Ella Balinska. Balinska is not as well known as her castmates in the United States, but she is a remarkable actress. In “Charlie’s Angels” there are some scenes where her character, Jane, has to be vulnerable and emotional, and not many actors can make those specific scenes believable. Balinska not only makes them believable, she also makes the audience sympathize with her.
My favorite part of the movie is also a spoiler for those who have not seen “Charlie’s Angels.”
Toward the end of the film, it is revealed that the person Elena, Jane, and Sabina are trying to defeat is not who they think. Instead of taking down Elena’s boss, they were actually trying to take down the man who has helped the angels since this agency was created, John Bosley. This reveal came as such a shock because no one thought that the villain would be the same person on their team, especially with events that led up to this discovery.
Besides the storyline of the film, I love how it shows women empowerment and women taking more major roles in a movie’s creation.
With the sense of empowerment that can be taken from the movie, it will surely have anyone ready to fight crime like an angel.
— A&E Editor Jordan Owens
The 2019 “Charlie’s Angels” is the first of all the franchise’s movies and shows where it is written, directed, and produced by majority women and the soundtrack is the first to have all the songs made by women. It is also the first time that the hidden face of Charlie is voiced by a woman. The movie even goes as far as to confront how women are seen as objects and how sexism is present in the workplace.
Even though I believe that this is an incredible film with an incredible team and actors, many seem to not agree. So far on Rotten Tomatoes “Charlie’s Angels” has only received 57% fresh, and scored 4.1 out of 10 on IMDb.
These stats are the effect of how many people went out to see “Charlie’s Angels” on opening weekend. Since it was released between Disney’s most anticipated movies at the end of 2019, “Maleficent” and “Frozen 2,” audiences were less motivated to watch it. Another reason why “Charlie’s Angels scored so poorly is because of what was said earlier, it is the fifth remake in the franchise, and audiences get tired of seeing the same thing over again after a period of time.
“Charlie’s Angels” has so many elements that make the movie what it is, but sadly it is not given the chance to prove how exceptional this film is.
After watching “Charlie’s Angels,” I can say that it is one of the best action movies I have ever seen. With the sense of empowerment that can be taken from the movie, it will surely have anyone ready to fight crime like an angel.
