Quick Take: Charlie's Angels (2019)

Director: Elizabeth Banks. Starring: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, Djimon Hounsou. Release: VOD.

Time for another reboot of Charlie's Angels, a concept that frankly wasn't all that great to begin with. At least the original show had some hot babes, and the McG movies from 2000/2003 had a spirited, energetic approach. This version has neither.

The plot is dull and overly familiar and the film often gets caught up in lengthly expositions. And what is the plot? Some barely memorable nonsense about a high tech weapon. We have twelve Mission: Impossible films about that, thank you very much.

The effects look cheap, the fightscenes are badly edited, and there isn't a single memorable set-piece. Generally the film just seems weirdly detached from its own mission. No one here seems to have much fun making this. Well, except for - surprise, surprise - the often surly Stewart! She's created a delightfully off-center character, with weird mannerism and a crooked smile. She seems to get the tone right. Even if everyone else around her doesn’t.

And finally, although I applaud giving the reigns of this franchise to a female director, resulting in less fetishizing of the lead characters' bodies, I could do without the crass man-hating tone that also runs throughout the film.