CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2019)
A funny, less-sexualized reboot with strong heroes and serious content.
Should You Watch It?
This four-star reboot improves on earlier versions in important ways. It is funnier and much less sexualized, presenting its heroines as smart, strong women who use intellect, physical training, and wit to accomplish their goals. Courage, teamwork, loyalty, and defeating evil give the adventure a positive moral center.
But the film’s content is serious. Strong action violence includes gunfights, explosions, killings, and some intense images. The movie also contains 21 obscenities, sexual comments and innuendos, and light homosexual allusions. Those concerns make it unsuitable for children and young teens, despite its positive role models for teenage girls.
If you are a discerning adult, this is worth watching. For family viewing with children or young teens, choose something else.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESA young engineer develops Calisto, a revolutionary energy device that could replace the traditional power grid. But the technology can also be weaponized, and her superiors want to take it to market before she can fix its deadly flaw.
After she blows the whistle on corruption, the engineer becomes a target. She joins forces with the Angels, who must protect her, uncover the threat inside their own agency, and keep Calisto from falling into evil hands.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an entertaining, effective reboot with a clear improvement in tone. Elizabeth Banks brings more humor to the franchise and removes much of the unnecessary hyper-sexualization found in earlier versions.
The movie also gives its heroines meaningful strengths. They rely on intelligence, physical training, and wit rather than dumbing themselves down or depending on sexuality. There is quite a bit of violence, and the filmmakers could have done even better, but the film remains thrilling and fun.
The Worldview
The film’s worldview is strongly moral. Female private detectives work to defeat evil, uncover a plot to kill innocent people, and remain loyal to their values. Courage and teamwork are praised, and the villains’ murderous plans are condemned.
Female empowerment is one of the movie’s main themes. Male characters sometimes look down on women or refuse to treat them as equals because of their sex, and the movie condemns that sexism. The Angels are smart, strong, and capable, showing teenage girls that they do not have to rely on sexuality or make themselves less intelligent to succeed. The film also includes light homosexual allusions through a female detective’s comical flirting with another woman.
The story’s central moral idea is that evil should be confronted rather than tolerated. That aligns with Scripture’s call: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral worldview involving female private detectives who work to defeat evil, uncover a plot to kill innocent people, and remain loyal to their values and their desire to defeat the villains, plus courage and teamwork are extolled, with some strong feminist elements as male characters often look down on women and don’t treat them as equals because of their sex, and the movie condemns that sexism (female empowerment is one of the movie’s main themes), plus one of the female detectives slightly flirts with another female in a comical manner so the movie includes some light homosexual allusions
Foul Language
21 obscenities (including one “f” word in a subtitle), 18 mostly light profanities, an use of the middle finger, two vulgar insults, depicted vomiting
Violence
Strong, sometimes intense action violence with minimal blood includes hand to hand combat with punching and kicking and smashing into glass and other objects, many scenes with gunfights, people are shot with tranquilizers and bullets, explosions occur, a man is shown in a close up being shot directly in the side of the head, many explosions send people flying, one instance where a man is killed because of an electrical power burst, a man is known to be sucked into a rock crushing machine but not shown, a girl bites a man’s ear, and it’s shown bleeding, a man’s leg is sliced with a knife, a brief scene where woman is shown to place her foot in a man’s crotch region, a man falls over a balcony and is pierced through the torso by an ice sculpture, mild to moderate amount of blood shown throughout
Sex
Some light sexual comments and innuendos, a woman uses her sexuality in an obnoxious way to corner a male villain in one scene, and some homosexual allusions when one Charlie’s angel sometimes flirts with men and with a woman, mostly in a comical manner
Nudity
Upper male nudity shown while a man is dancing, one angel is shown wearing rather short shorts on a few occasions, and one very brief shot of a girl surfing in a bikini, but nothing sexually explicit
Alcohol Use
Characters occasionally have alcoholic drinks at dinner or at a large party
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Some moral relativity as heroines occasionally break the law in order to complete their mission (for example, cars are stolen multiple times to keep up with the villain the heroines are pursuing), examples of corruption and greed (some antagonists are very evil and some are just in it for the money, but apathetic about what will happen to innocent people), woman is kidnapped and forced to program a machine to kill people, kidnap victim is also forced to wear a collar and a leash.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The Angels use courage, teamwork, and loyalty to confront evil. What does it look like to overcome evil with good in your own life?
Romans 12:21 · Ecclesiastes 4:9–10The movie condemns treating women as inferior. How does Scripture describe the equal dignity of men and women before God?
Genesis 1:27 · Galatians 3:28The heroines sometimes break the law to complete their mission. When, if ever, is obeying God more important than obeying people?
Acts 5:29 · Romans 13:1–4Calisto is pursued because powerful people want to profit from it without caring who may be harmed. How should Christians think about power, money, and responsibility?
1 Timothy 6:9–10 · Luke 12:48The Final Word
This reboot is more humorous, less sexualized, and filled with smart, strong women who fight evil together. Its strong violence, foul language, and sexual material still make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For other family options, see.
