Charlies Angels and Ford v Ferrari double feature

This latest reboot of the tried-and-true 70s concept is a salute to how resilient that concept actually is: most franchises (cough Terminator cough) would start flailing after a failed TV series, a shoddy video game and a second movie in 2003 that killed off most peoples’ desire for a third. 

Writer-director-star Elizabeth Banks makes this sequel (mostly) work by keeping it simple and (relatively) low key - not having the budget of a big blockbuster probably helped there. The story largely sticks to the basics: when scientist Elena (Naomi Scott) uncovers a way her company’s big invention (some kind of battery) can be turned into a weapon, she also discovers her bosses don’t seem to care. 

Enter Charlies Angels – well, two of them (it’s now a global organisation), as loose cannon Sabina (Kristen Stewart) and former MI6 agent Jane (Ella Balinska) lead the investigation, only to discover things are a lot more deadly at the power company than they first seemed. 

As an organisation, Charlies Angels itself might be bigger – there are at least three featured Bosleys (Patrick Stewart, Banks and Djimon Hounsou) – but the action sequences rely more on choppy editing than big explosions, which puts the focus firmly on the characters and a consistent if occasionally clunky female empowerment message. It’s a largely satisfying yet forgettable addition to the franchise.

To get the basics out of the way: Ford v Ferrari's gearhead take on the battle to win the 1966 24 hour race at Le Mans is a thoroughly satisfying mix of character study and racetrack action.

Director James Mangold wrings tension out of car design details and corporate powerplays while leads Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon, often in a cowboy hat) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale, using his natural UK accent) winningly just want to be left alone to enjoy the thrills of car racing. 

So on that level, it gets just about everything right; it’s a totally entertaining film for the dad and the dad at heart. 

But this is also a film that sets itself up as the underdog versus the big guns… only smug corporate Ford is positioned as the underdog and Ferrari (a company that starts the film out bankrupt) are the big guns. 

The facts of the story – well, the facts so obvious the film can’t ignore them – is that the petulant entitled son of Henry Ford threw cash (of which he had plenty) at the PR problem of winning Le Mans, then managed to largely screw over the people who did the real work. 

It’s a feel-bad story buried just under the surface, and it leave a scratch in this film’s otherwise immaculate paintwork.

- Anthony Morris