a5c7b9f00b Three women, detectives with a mysterious boss, retrieve stolen voice-ID software, using martial arts, tech skills, and sex appeal. Based on the popular 70&#39;s TV show, three cute chicks work for the mysterious &quot;Charlie&quot;. They are the female &#39;James Bonds&#39;&#39; of our time. They get to blow stuff up, kick the crap out of people, and wear really tight clothing, all whilst trying to retrieve stolen software and balance in high heels. In the history of the cinema, most feature films that are the progeny of a successful television series have been less than satisfying or able to capture the essence of the original. There are exceptions, of course, and `Charlie&#39;s Angels,&#39; directed by McG (Joseph McGinty Mitchell), and starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, is one of them. A great movie it is not, but it is fun, the trio of Angels are engaging, and it is non-stop action from beginning to end. It starts with a dynamic skydiving stunt and never slows down. Along the way a lot of things blow up, there&#39;s music,dancing, plenty of stunts, some clever lines and a bit of comedy relief from Bill Murray (Bosley). There&#39;s just enough plot to keep things interesting, but it really doesn&#39;t make much difference; this is like a party to which everyone&#39;s been invited, and Angels Natalie (Diaz), Dylan (Barrymore) and Alex (Liu) are everything their T.V. counterparts ever hoped to be and more. This is the way Charlie&#39;s team was meant to be. What really puts this movie over, though, is the Angels themselves; there&#39;s a natural camaraderie between them that seems sincere and never forced, and they all seem to be having a great time, especially the charismatic Diaz, who could easily win an Oscar for Best Supporting Smile. Barrymore looks good and exhibits plenty of spunk,does Liu, who has a captivating screen presencewell. It&#39;s all played pretty much straightforward, there&#39;s no attempt at parody or heavy drama, and nothing is taken too seriously, which enables the story to move along without getting bogged down with any unnecessary business. Murray is used just enough to make his presence welcome and effective, and he makes his Bosley fit nicely alongside this latest incarnation of Angels. The action sequences are well done and the choreography (by Cheung-Yan Yuen) is exciting; the influences of John Woo and `The Matrix&#39; are obvious, and the less experienced McG was wise to draw from the best, for it adds to the success of his film. There&#39;s something of the James Bond films in here, and `Mission Impossible 2&#39; (of course), but to McG&#39;s credit, it mainly plays like an extended, more detailed version of the original series. The supporting cast includes Tim Curry (Roger Corwin), the versatile Sam Rockwell (Knox), Kelly Lynch (Vivian Wood), Tom Green (Chad) and, in smaller but effective roles, Matt LeBlanc, Luke Wilson, and Crispin Glover. The familiar voice of Charlie is once again supplied by the man who created the original, John Forsythe. There&#39;s so much energy in this movie you get the feeling that the Angels must have always started their day&#39;s work with a triple from Starbucks; it&#39;s a high voltage romp that&#39;s upbeat and filled with fun and positive vibes. In the end, `Charlie&#39;s Angels&#39; is an entertaining, feel-good movie that should satisfy a new, younger audience,wellthose with fond memories of the show that started it all a generation ago. I rate this one 7/10. When is a comic strip not a comic strip?<br/><br/>When it&#39;s Charlie&#39;s Angels, the movie follow-up to the series of the 80&#39;s. This time around, the Angels are Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, and Cameron Diaz. Go-between and sidekick John Bosley is none other than the irrepressible Bill Murray.<br/><br/>Clearly, the architects of this film intended it to be self-lampooning and the movie definitely comes offcartoonish. The ladies are able, capable, and without, really, the need for men in their lives. They depend on themselves and each other. And, like their television counterparts before them, they really have only one want, need, and desire: to meet their boss, Charlie Townsend, voiced nowin the past, by John Forsythe.<br/><br/>Forsythethe unseen Townsend is the only connection to the past, other than that of producer Leonard Goldberg. There are no allusions to the Angels of the past, or of the former Bosley. Justwell. Other than the formula of three women detectives working for an unseen boss, there really are no connections to the series.<br/><br/>Actually, the feel of the film seems to owe more to James Bond than to Charlie&#39;s Angels. It opens on an airplane where an apparent bomber meets his apparent contact, Mr. Jones, played by LL Cool J. Their interaction leads to a Bond-like opening sequence that establishes the Angels and their penchant for teamwork and danger. An updated opening, akin to the series&#39; `once upon a time&#39; billboard, follows.<br/><br/>What follows is the meat, so to speak, of the film. There&#39;s a computer industrialist (Sam Rockwell) who has been kidnapped by his nemesis, Roger Corwin (Tim Curry). The industrialist&#39;s partner, Vivian Wood (Kelly Lynch), hires Townsend and the Angels to retrieve the industrialist and his software, which has been hijacked by his competitor.<br/><br/>There are few surprises in the film, authored by Ryan Rowe (The Love Bug), Ed Solomon (Men In Black), and John August (Titan A.E.), save for one or two and, if you think hard – I did – you can guess the direction of the film&#39;s plot. There are some casting surprises, though, like the aforementioned appearance of LL Cool J. Luke Wilson, Matt LeBlanc, and Tom Green lend their comic talents to the mix. However, the plot line is so thin that you&#39;d do best to just sit back and enjoy the endless action that unreels before you on the screen.<br/><br/>It&#39;s no coincidence that this movie is one hour, 38 minutes long. With commercials, there&#39;s just enough of a film to fit a two-hour TV-movie time slot. Which is probably where this movie belonged in the first place.<br/><br/>My score: 5.5 The gals are fab. And so's the movie.
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