"They're beautiful, They're Brilliant and they work for Charlie"
Charlie's Angels is a feel good film, which will make the boys drool, and the girls want to kick some butt.
A thrilling and compelling story Charlie's Angels isn't... But laughs, action, and feel good fun it is in abundance.
Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu are highly entertaining as Charlie's Angels, Natalie, Dylan and Alex respectively. The Angels use their Physical, Mental and Aesthetic strengths to rid the world from evil. They Kung-fu kick and karate chop their way through the film in some brilliantly choreographed action scenes.
The Charlie's Angels plot is thin but unashamedly so, the basic story involves the angels rescuing kidnapped computer boss Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell) developer of new high-tech voice identification software, and stopping the top secret product from falling into the potentially disastrous wrong hands. Although this is the basic synopsis there are many twists and turns along the way which lead to the girls jumping out of planes, driving speed boats and racing cars, hacking into mainframes, and bringing large blue chip companies to a standstill with a leather skirt and a wiggle. All this whilst cleverly disguised as Austrian Yodellers, Men, Belly Dancers and Racing Drivers
The story though is superficial to the real plot, which is to show the three lovely ladies fighting baddies and generally kicking ass whilst at the same time looking very sexy and revealing lots of flesh. The sex appeal is also there for the girls to in the shape of Matt Le Blanc and the "mad" Tom Green.
Beneath all the cheesy lines and double entendres the real quality of the film is evident in the fight scenes, which have been fantastically choreographed and put together. Charlie's Angels meets Mission Impossible and Matrix with slow motion back flips and summersaults through the air as the angels dodge bullets, swords and fists. The soundtrack adds a lot to the action scenes, the highlight being the three angels beating up the "Creepy thin man" to the tune of the Prodigy's "Smack my bitch up".
Apart from the fact that the three leads are glamorous ladies who have been cast for their sex appeal rather than their acting ability (although all three do give convincing performances) Charlie's Angels appeals to the girls as well as the boys as it is a post feminist girlie film in which the girls take on the world- and win, and at the same time as having relationships and social lives.
As somebody who is not old enough to remember Charlie's Angels the first time around I was unfamiliar with the formula, but the whole 70's parody was a theme throughout the film, which I thought worked really well. With the cheesy hair flicking and head swinging, the screen being split into three and the obligatory jump suits with the zip just leaving that little bit less to the imagination, Charlie's Angels is fun and is not afraid to laugh at itself and what it stands for.
Charlie's Angels is incredibly cheesy but it is supposed to be and it is carried off brilliantly and humorously. A worthy 98 minutes of action packed, laughs and just good old-fashioned FUN!
