Elena is a brilliant-but-overlooked systems engineer with a momentous secret. After helping to create Calisto, a revolutionary new sustainable energy technology, Elena becomes a moving target after she voices her concerns about the product’s dangerous potential to be weaponized.
The only problem? Elena has no idea who wants her dead or why.
But Charlie’s Angels do. In fact, Angels Jane and Sabina, along with their boss Bosley, know everything there is to know about Elena and her predicament.
At least, they think they do.
But things aren’t always as they seem in the world of spies and covert operations. And if Jane, Sabina and Bosley hope to keep Elena alive, they’ll have to work together before those unseen powers get a hold of Calisto and destroy the entire world.
Elena is an intelligent scientist who often underestimates her own worth and value. Throughout the film she learns to speak up for herself and to maximize her gifts and talents.
Sabina is funny, thoughtful and always tries to bring a lighthearted approach to difficult situations. She’s also quick to help others and to affirm them. Sabina also thanks Charlie’s Angels from saving her from a life of abandonment issues and prison sentences.
Jane is a no-nonsense Angel who struggles to admit some of her struggles and to accept help. Gradually, though, Jane learns that it’s OK to ask others for help and to express her emotions. We also see that Jane has a soft spot for others, and she gives a former colleague crucial supplies for needy mothers.
Sabina and Jane are just two of many Angels from all over the world who join to help one another in a bond of sisterhood.
Christ the Redeemer, the enormous statue of Jesus that stands over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, is briefly pictured.
Charlie’s Angels are known for their good looks and their ability to seduce men for imperative information—and we see a bit of this on screen. At the beginning, Sabina wears a cleavage-baring dress as she flirts with a criminal. Sabina licks food off his finger and touches his crotch with her feet under the table (we see her extend her feet toward his chair). Elsewhere, Sabina flirts with, and leers at, a few women.
Other Angels wear short, revealing dresses and leotards. Jane flirts with an interested male scientist. She wears a sports bra and leggings during a workout. Sabina wears shorts, an open shirt and a bra in one scene, short shorts revealing some of her rear in another, and an oversized sweater with no pants (though we don’t see anything more than her upper thigh). We also see her in a tight, sleeveless top.
We hears a few jokes related to sex. Some men go shirtless at a party. A transgender woman is seen at the end of the film.
Charlie’s Angels are trained in the art of combat—and we see plenty of that on-screen. Women and men engage in fistfights, kick one another and do whatever it takes to knock the other out. A few Angels knock men out by hitting them over the head with glass objects; the Angels also apply a chemical substance to men’s necks, causing them to fall sleep.
A man gets shot in the neck and dies; we see blood seep from the open wound. A man is shot in the head at point blank range, though the camera pans away before we glimpse anything too graphic. An Angel rubs hand sanitizer in a man’s eyes and hits him in the crotch multiple times. A criminal is crushed to death at a rock quarry. Elena bites a man’s ear in self-defense after he puts a chain around her neck and tries to strangle her. An assassin falls onto a sharp ice sculpture and is impaled.
We hear that a man is sent to the hospital after an electric shock causes a brain seizure. A security guard dies after an electrical explosion, and another guard gets knocked down by a chemical explosion.
Buildings explode. Cars are overturned, explode and tumble into the water.
God’s name is misused 10 ten times, while Jesus’ name is abused twice. We hear the f-word stand-ins “mothereffer” and “mofo” once each, and the s-word about 10 times. Other profanities include multiple utterances of “a–,” “h—,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–mit” and “d–k.”
The British vulgarity “bloody” is used once. A man is called an “idiot” twice. A woman uses a crude hand gesture.
Men and women alike consume beer, cocktails, hard liquor and wine. A woman makes a quick reference to stopping the drug trade.
Plenty of lying, betrayal and covert operations takes place. Many men underestimate women, both mentally and physically. A few criminals are accused of embezzlement, illegal arms dealings and selling products on the black market.
We hear Elena vomit twice.
If you watched the music video for “Don’t Call Me Angel,” the promotional single that preceded this latest reboot of Charlie’s Angels featuring Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey, you’d probably assume that this film would be more sexualized than its predecessors on the small and big screens.
Surprisingly, that assumption isn’t completely accurate. Yes, the film obviously includes occasional sexual innuendo and some moderately revealing outfits, as noted above. It’s also got some foul language and plenty of violence. That said, it also feels as if director and co-star Elizabeth Banks was trying to do something more with the franchise’s latest reboot than simply focus the camera on women flaunting their bodies.
Instead, it seems as if the film is trying to make a couple of redemptive points: sisterhood and friendship are necessary, and women are powerful when united.
Still, this reboot’s empowering messages are ultimately undermined by its content concerns, its average performances and its use of a familiar action formula that never quite makes it off the ground.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
