Charlie's Angels (2019)

The writer-director Elizabeth Banks has chucked the bikinis, but not the foundational fairy tale that women's power is a matter of low stakes, cute outfits and sassy you-go-girl attitude.

...consistently fun dialogue and fight scenes... actual characterisation; it's worth seeing these angels take flight.

Despite all its hand-to-hand fighting, the latest "Charlie's Angels" never really gets a proper grip on things.

For all of its #MeToo heavy lifting, though, the film still doesn't work, mainly for the same reasons as before: Constructed as symbols (not human beings), these characters have too much spy stuff to do and yet, not quite enough.

It's better than it could have been while also not being quite good enough to warrant any further instalments.

Banks brings Charlie's Angels into the modern age with flair, all while unapologetically raising a feminist flag, championing female friendships and subtly making a point about the urgency of the ongoing climate crisis.

The new "Charlie's Angels" is a heavier chunk of escape than any previous "Angels" incarnation - if the early-2000s films were pop, this one is metal.

The regular eruptions of firepower are choreographed so smoothly you can just about forgive the implausibilities. There’s a jaunty feel to it all, together with a few well-placed plot twists, lots of good-humoured banter and the usual fun to be had from the Angels’ fondness for disguise.

Sadly, while the dialogue may feel right up to date, the plot is very much last century. After a series of potentially interesting double and triple-crosses, things evolve towards a very predictable conclusion.