Charlie’s Angels is an action-comedy written and directed by Elizabeth Banks from a story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn. It is the third installment in the Charlie’s Angels film series and serves as a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and the two previous theatrical films, Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). I absolutely didn’t want to see Charlie’s Angels because it sort of symbolizes flesh peddling. This version had more substance and less sex but was still based on sexy women luring men by showing excessive skin. I’m just saying!
A team of ladies, employed by the Townsend Agency and known as Charlie’s Angels, are led by senior operative John Bosley (Patrick Stewart). Their mission is to capture international embezzler Jonny Smith (Chris Pang) in Rio de Janeiro and turn him over to American authorities. A year later, Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott) who is a programmer engineer, employed by entrepreneur Alexander Brock (Sam Claflin), wants to expose Brock as well as Peter Fleming (Nat Faxon) who is head of development, for covering up a device that she helped invent called Calisto. The device is not ready to go into production but has been given the go-ahead by Fleming despite being told by Elena that Calisto has the potential to trigger fatal seizures when in use. Fleming convinces Brock to back him in signing off on production, immediately.
With the help of Angel Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) and Angel Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart), Elena meets with operative Edgar “Bosley” (Djimon Hounsou) to turn over her findings, but an assassin named Hodak (Jonathan Tucker) ambushes the meeting and subsequently kills Edgar and leaves Elena to drown. Jane Kano rescues Elena and brings her to operative Rebekah “Bosley” (Elizabeth Banks) with the help of her partner, Sabina Wilson. Meanwhile, John Bosley, who has since retired from the agency, discovers that Rebekah has tagged him with the agency’s specialized subdermal implant without his knowledge. Rebekah tasks Jane and Sabina, joined by Elena, with breaking into Brock’s corporate headquarters to steal the remaining Calisto prototypes before they can be duplicated.
This time around, Charlie’s Angels was better than it’s predecessors but still not considered great. What made it better was the plot and the seriousness of the characters as they went after their enemy. The fighting didn’t look so choreographed and the dialogue was comprehensible. There was less flesh peddling and I really enjoyed the movie. There have been many changes like a whole agency of Angels instead of just three. The name Bosley is a title as well as a position of authority. Michael Strahan has been introduced as a Bosley of the agency’s New York branch. Robert Clotworthy is now the voice of Charles “Charlie” Townsend, owner of the Townsend Agency, formerly held by the late John Forsythe. Elena appears to be a new recruit and most likely will appear in future Angel’s films. I liked Charlie’s Angels and recommend it. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $51.5 million worldwide. Check It Out!
Logan turns out to be a fantastic farewell to this third and final film solely focusing on Wolverine while opening up a host of possibilities as it says hello to a new chapter of young mutants. While I’m sad to see X-Men, as I knew it, fade into the sunset, I realize, we all get old. Today’s action films are so physical, it’s a wonder super heroes like Tony Stark last as long as they have. As you can see, the likes of Spiderman, Superman, Batman and Catwoman have all changed actors with many more to come. Logan (Hugh Jackman) happens to be a picture of beauty as far as the body goes however, we can’t account for what’s inside. While still looking good, he is now out of the action hero game, probably taking on roles more suited to his age. I must say, he did a fantastic job parting as Logan. Not only did he manage to keep up with the new young talent he also managed to look great doing it. The story was great, the acting was extraordinary and the special effects were spectacular. A little too much killing for my liking but that hardly seems to be a problem these days. I did feel some of the killings were unnecessary, as it would have been nice if some of the nicer people had lived, I’m just saying.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the better films in the X-Men series. It was clear, clean, crisp, entertaining and good story telling. Wolverine/ Logan, played by Hugh Jackman, is sent back in time, to 1973, in hopes of stopping an event that would eliminate a fatal future for the Mutants and Humans as well. As usual, the special effects are impeccable and the stellar cast, totally enjoyable. I was happy to see former X-men like Ororo Munroe/Storm (Halle Berry) and Jean Grey/Phoenix (Famke Janssen ) back in this sequel. Jennifer Lawrence has played the role of Raven
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