Three women, detectives with a mysterious boss, retrieve stolen voice-ID software, using martial arts, tech skills, and sex appeal.
“Charlie’s Angels,” the popular TV show of the 1970s, was successful because it starred three beautiful leading ladies who were the stars of the show during a time when most other television series were dominated by male actors. Even Bosley (David Doyle), the angels’ boss, was reduced to a supporting role while the three ladies took center stage. Cut to the year 2000 and we were given “Charlie’s Angels,” a brand new movie that starred Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu in the titular roles. Sadly, the over-the-top action and constant in-your-face titillating eye candy quickly gets old and the movie is reduced to a satire of satirical films. The fact that this came out one year after “The Matrix” and shamelessly stole many of the mind-boggling special effects from that classic, including bullet-time, reduces this title to nothing more than a trio of pretty faces, at times scantily clad, kicking ass in derivative action setpieces accompanied by superfluous laughing to give its audience the effect that the three women are best friends and love their jobs. It’s just a pity film critics, and audiences, in general, didn’t feel the same way.
Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore), and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) make up the aforementioned Angels, private investigators who report to the mysterious Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), who is often heard but never seen and owns the Charles Townsend Agency. Charlie’s assistant, Bosley (Bill Murray) connects the angels with Charlie when a new job materializes and when they are informed that Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell), a tech mogul who has created an innovative voice-recognition system that could change the future, has been kidnapped, it is up to the angels and Bosley to infiltrate Knox’s company, Knox Enterprises, as they fear the kidnapping was an inside job. But as the girls begin to dig deeper, loyalties are tested when those in positions of trust and integrity, begin to show their true colors and in order to survive, Natalie, Dylan, and Alex must collectively unite in order to save the day.
“Charlie’s Angels” is a poor attempt at the continuation of the TV series and leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. While I have always admired its three leads, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu, here, while it is pretty evident the trio became good friends during the making of this film and its subsequent sequel, their onscreen friendship feels forced and unnatural, much like the rest of the movie. I was raised by my mother and grew up with her and my sister in a house full of women so I have always had a great respect and admiration for women in general and while I can appreciate a woman dressed up in lingerie or a bikini, I would much rather that the three angels were akin to James Bond, or Jason Bourne, known more for their brains and physical agility, instead of their sensualistic attributes. The release of this film and its 2003 follow-up, “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” on 4K and Blu-ray respectively, comes on the heels of another new big-screen adaptation, simply titled “Charlie’s Angels,” which will be released in theaters on November 15th and stars Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska. It was written and directed by Elizabeth Banks so hopefully, her visual representation will be less about the angels’ physical appearances and more about their cleverness and solidarity as friends.
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