Aeon Flux
By: Mark Runyon | Category: On DVD | 04/23/06 | 12:00 AM
 |  |  Grade: D | Genre: Sci-Fi/Action
Summary: While its not completely unwatchable, thanks to Charlize modeling this season's Frederick's of Hollywood line, there's not much here to concern yourself with. The slick veneer is impenetrable for good reason. There's nothing beneath.
It was this time two years ago that we were taken aback with shock and awe over the transformation that the stunning Charlize Theron took to morph into the stomach turning Eileen Wuornos in Monster. Her portrayal was akin to crawling into the skin of the serial killer and having her mail forwarded. It seemed to be Charlize's shot across the bow saying, "I will not be written off as just another pretty face in Hollywood." Oh the difference a couple years make. Her latest sci-fi picture takes that equation and flips it on its head. Aeon Flux is a glossy airbrushed feature, overweighed so much by style I think they ran out of room to squeeze in any real content. I heard one writer comment that Charlize Theron officially has her Catwoman. While it falls a shade short of being as painful as Catwoman, this is certainly no gem. The storyline is a convoluted mess that doesn't even try to connect up much less takes a stab at making any sense. For a cast of top rate actors, we get a lot of phoned in performances, compounded by their ridiculous costumes. Ultimately, they've adapted a comic that really shouldn't have ventured outside the ink and flickering television screen. |
Aeon Flux was an animated series that showed on late night MTV a decade ago about this lanky, almost preying mantis-like, woman who battles the chaos and corruption of the future. It quickly formed a cult following, yet it never reached the point of great anime. It was embraced more for being on the fringe, eyeing a bizarre future in the days before the Matrix opened our eyes to what sci-fi could be. In fact, Aeon Flux can rightfully be labeled as the poor man's Matrix. Pack in all that style, rub something off those fantastic fight sequences, throw away the script that made philosophy cool; next thing you know you've got this pale carbon copy.
 | | | Aeon Flux | | Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller & Sophie Okonedo | | Director: Karyn Kusama |
| | View the Trailer (Quicktime) |
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So what's the story morning glory? The year is 2415 and 99% of Earth's population has been wiped out by a virus. Trevor Goodchild developed an antidote to save those lucky few and create a new Garden of Eden in the city of Bregna. Nature slowly takes over the world again outside the city walls. Those fortunate enough to count themselves among the living, now sacrifice their freedom to be a part of this new civilization ruled by a committee of Goodchild's scientists. As if we couldn't see it coming a mile away, a resistance crops up to challenge their tyrannical savior led by none other than the leather-clad Aeon Flux. Aeon performs extraterrestrial yoga while combating the bad guys that would make any contortionism green with envy. She also gets about by scurrying around on the surface of walls like a cheesy cross between Spider-man and a cockroach. Charlize Theron is the thing cold showers are made of, cavorting around in barely there nighties and skin tight corsets and tights. She teases us with her luscious sexuality the entire film with no payoff. I guess that seems to define all movies aimed at 13-year-old boys. And people wonder why we're all horn balls at that age.
Aeon is tasked with killing Trevor. She's never failed an assignment before so he can be considered as good as dead. At the last second, her sure fire trigger waivers as her soul briefly connects with his. What is the connection between these two, and how has it short-circuited her killing instinct? The remaining film unfolds reveling deception, why death is never quite what it seems and other general silliness. Really do we care? It's never a good thing when your mind starts to wander, compiling a grocery list as the senseless story continues to unravel. If you can't compete with lunchmeats and milk, its time to actually buy a script next time and someone please nudge the director. I think I saw her sleep drool stringing across a few of the frames. Perhaps the most appalling part of all this is wasting the time of all these great actors. I mean Frances McDormand (Fargo), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), Pete Postlethwaite (The Usual Suspects), Marton Csokas (Lord of the Rings), and the list goes on. Don't even get me started on Charlize slumming in this paycheck picture. Why are the producers wasting quality talent on this swill? I'm sure Matthew Perry or Julia Ormond don't have anything better to do, and goodness knows they need to eat.
While its not completely unwatchable, thanks to Charlize modeling this season's Frederick's of Hollywood line, there's not much here to concern yourself with. It plays out like a futuristic painting, fueled on style and funky fashion. The slick veneer is impenetrable for good reason. There's nothing beneath. This film is a January dog if I've ever seen one. How it wiggled out of the studio's grasp a month early is a mystery. If this is the caliber movie Hollywood is about to dump on us in the coming months of the new year, it's going to be a painful handful of weeks.
Originally Posted: December 14, 2005
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