Charlie’s Angels

Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Charlie’s Angels follows the three title characters (Kristen Stewart’s Sabine, Naomi Scott’s Elena, and Ella Balinska’s Jane) as they set out to prevent a dangerous energy source from hitting the open market. Filmmaker Banks, working from her own script, has infused Charlie’s Angels with an often distractingly bland and generic sensibility that’s reflected in its myriad of attributes, with the decidedly less-than-engrossing vibe compounded by a trio of far-from-sympathetic, scarcely fleshed-out heroes. (The three stars are relatively good here, admittedly, but the actors find themselves trapped within the confines of one-note, one-dimensional characters.) It doesn’t help, certainly, that Banks delivers a series of forgettable action set pieces and a storyline that’s often distressingly repetitive, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the whole thing doesn’t start to improve until the third act – with the instruction of the movie’s surprise villain injecting the proceedings with a burst of much-needed adrenaline (ie the performer portraying said surprise villain delivers a scenery-chewing turn that ultimately stands as the film’s most entertaining attribute). The final result is a hopelessly underwhelming blockbuster that possesses little in the way of personality or memorable elements (and this is to say nothing of the eye-rollingly “hip” soundtrack), and it is, in the end, hard to deny that Charlie’s Angels does make one long for McG’s flashy yet distinctive take on the iconic television series.

** out of ****

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