Film Review - Charlie's Angels

Everyone’s opinion of this film will hinge on whether or not they are able or willing to take a feminist reading. I you’re looking for a commentary on feminism you will end up disappointed because, despite what the first lines of the film might imply, this is not what this is. This is a badass and wild action film that uses feminism more as a point of subtext than anything else. And that would be fine, providing there was anything else that kept the narrative interesting. 

And that’s the problem. The action scenes are well shot, the acting is good, but I’ve always considered this the baseline in quality in terms of high budget action films. After all, if your given $ 47 000 000 and are not able to make something that’s visually appealing to a wide audience, you have fundamentally misunderstood your role as a filmmaker. Luckily the film does achieve that baseline of quality, but it does little to impress me past that. For one, the film is listed as an action/adventure comedy on its IMDb page. Comedy? Really? Sure, there are some attempts at humour, but when the most immediately amusing thing about your film is how the characters fit into such obvious stereotypes, with Sabina (Kristen Stewart) being the bitchy one, Jane (Ella Balinska) being the one who gets pushed around by the bitchy one, and Elena (Naomi Scott) who barely knows what’s going on half the time and ends up the main source of ‘humour’ in the narrative as the antagonist plots to weaponize a revolutionary tech product she helped create against the world. 

Pretty much exactly what I expected, just devoid of any feminist commentary. You could make the fair argument that the concept of the film is feminist subtext enough. After all, the film is directed by a woman and stars three women in lead roles. Isn’t that enough? Bullshit. Considering a film with a female director and female leads as being ‘feminist’ without considering the greater narrative is baffling. 

And that’s this film in a nutshell. It seems to understand its purpose but has no idea how to properly articulate its point. As it is, it’s mediocre. I would compare it to Last Christmas, which was only marginally redeemed by its charm, but this film is only redeemed by the low standards that seem to come with action films in 2019. Pass. 

5 / 10