Charlie's Angels (2019)
Directed by Elizabeth Banks
Elena Houghlin is a scientist, engineer and inventor of Calisto -- a sustainable energy source that will revolutionize the way people use power. It will be ready as soon as she works out the last issue, if not it could be turned into a dangerous weapon. But when the cutting edge technology is pushed to an investor before she can do that, Elena turns to the Townsend Agency for help. Now, it's up to the Angels -- Jane, Sabina, and the newly recruited Elena -- to retrieve Calisto before it can be transformed into a weapon of mass destruction.
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What critics say influenced Charlie's Angels
Banks echoes many of the familiar tropes of heist thrillers like the “Mission: Impossible” and “Ocean’s Eleven” franchises and, again, makes her leads seem nearly invincible, while outfitting them with all sorts of nifty, futuristic weapons.
Always nibbling on food and showing off her toned arms, Stewart feels like she’s doing an impression of Brad Pitt in Ocean’s Eleven mixed with every magazine photoshoot of, well, herself.
After a clandestine meeting where Elena is set to hand over evidence to a Bosley (Djimon Hounsou) is invaded by fearsome assassin Hodak (Jonathan Tucker, channeling the killing-machine cool of Robert Patrick in “Terminator 2”), it becomes clear the stakes are much higher than anyone imagined.
Elena has turned whistleblower, and we learn how dangerous that is when she meets Jane in a coffee shop, where Hodak (Jonathan Tucker), a hitman with a tattoo sprouting from his neck like a fungus (he’s like a punk version of Robert Patrick in “T2”), takes out a gun and starts to fire.
Even the eccentric snazzy silent character remains, only this time he possesses more of a Robert Patrick in Terminator 2 , rather than the lanky Crispin Glover physique.
Which it’s about to do, since sinister forces are at work, including a hitman named Hodak (Jonathan Tucker) who looks like the angrier brother of Robert Patrick from “Terminator 2,” sans the molten metal shape-shifting.
The camp sensibility has disappeared from Banks’s iteration, replaced by something slicker, much like the muted ironic humour of her Pitch Perfect films.
Banks’s film has an offbeat sense of humor; its rhythms are weird, the volume surprisingly muted for a movie from the director behind two Pitch Perfect films.
It also works because Elizabeth Banks, having graduated from the “Pitch Perfect” series, proves herself to be a filmmaker who can stage fireworks with extreme flair.
Similar to Pitch Perfect , this is a story from the perspective of a group of women coming together as a team to kick ass and one of the key ingredients this lacked was teamwork.
Charlie’s Angels works because Elizabeth Banks brings a fresh voice to the franchise and brings with her some of the Pitch Perfect magic.
Elizabeth Banks is known for her comedic roles in films like the Pitch Perfect movies and The Hunger Games , but she also has done a lot of off-screen work, like producing (she's a producer for this film!) and directing ( Pitch Perfect 2 ).
Charlie’s Angels is set for release on November 15th and features a cast that includes Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Naomi Scott (Aladdin), Ella Balinska (Casualty), Elizabeth Banks (Brightburn), Noah Centineo (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), Sam Clafin (Adrift), Patrick Stewart (Logan), Djimon Hounsou (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Jonathan Tucker (Westworld).
Less impactful is the nerdy side character Langston (Noah Centineo, from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before), who Jane might be falling for, thus disrupting her strictly-business persona.