Today, we got the first trailer from the upcoming Charlie’s Angels film starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska, and directed/written by Elizabeth Banks. This is the third live-action Angels film, and it’s not a remake, as it will incorporate the events of the original TV series and the McG-directed 2000s films. You actually see some of the old costumes in the trailer’s montage.
The synopsis goes as follows:
“In Elizabeth Banks’ bold vision, Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere. The screenplay is by Elizabeth Banks from a story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn.”
After watching the trailer, I have mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand, I think that the Charlie’s Angels movies have always been fun, cheesy girl-power movies, and in many ways this trailer shows a lot of this. I also think all the ladies look amazing in it. Watching Kristen Stewart be happy and have fun is always a delight, and I’ve never seen her in full action movie mode before, so I’m excited—especially if her character ends up being queer like she is. I also think Ella Balinska and Naomi Scott look good, as well.
However, I just don’t feel like the girls seem to have a lot of chemistry together, and I remember that, originally, Lupita N’yongo was attached to this movie, so I’m wondering what made her leave. It also just really sucks that, in a movie with two women of color, we still don’t have any darker-skinned women in the cast.
There’s also just something really uninspiring about doing a Charlie’s Angels movie in 2019. The franchise was, in many ways, a trope maker, and a lot of the things about it have just grown beyond itself. I still think that we so rarely get female espionage films that I do hope this pulls a Spy and completely proves me wrong, but nothing about this movie, save the pure attractiveness of the cast, really pulled me in.
Maybe they should have just done a live-action version of Totally Spies instead?
We’ll see the final result on November 15, 2019.
(image: Sony)
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