What the Flux were they trying to do? (Aeon Flux (2005) (DVD))

Name: Ailran

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Product:	Aeon Flux (2005) (DVD)
Date:	06.05.06 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Umm.. Theron in a catsuit

Disadvantages: Everything else to do with this monstrosity

Aeon Flux started as a series of short animated episodes on MTV where a gun toting, black catsuit wearing female killed just about everyone in sight before, invariably, dying at the end of the story. This format turned out to be very successful and Aeon Flux moved on to 20 minute stories which allowed a bit more story but still pretty much followed the same idea. Bullets flying everywhere as the acrobatic woman killed a virtual army of bad guys! These were shown on BBC2 in the mid nineties I think.

Now the basic concept has been taken, enlarged (minimally it could be said!) and brought to the big screen as a live action blockbuster starring Charlize Theron as the black clad woman, now given the name Aeon Flux.

In 2011 99% of the worlds population is killed by a virus, Trevor Goodchild discovers a cure and builds a city to house all those who have survived. The city is called Bragna, is populated by 5 million people and 400 years later is considered a paradise city, at least by most of inhabitants anyway.

There are those that don’t agree though, The Monicans, as they are called, don’t think that the Goodchild dynasty, for yes they still rule the city even now, is everything it says it is or that Bragna is quite the paradise it is made out to be. People just disappear and are never to be seen again happens far too frequently and no one seems to care. They want to find out the ‘truth’ about the Goodchilds and Bragna.

Aeon Flux (Theron) is a Monican, one of their top people. She is skilled, ruthless, athletic and determined, she makes the perfect assassin and she is very good at her ‘job’.
She has been waiting for the chance to kill Goodchild himself and now it seems as if everything is coming together to enable her to at last get her chance…… but is everything really as it seems? What are the real secrets of Bragna and Goodchild?

Aeon Flux is lightweight, disposable and ultimately not all it could have been. Equilibrium did the whole thing, more or less, miles better. It is kinda fun but I came out feeling as if I should have been better, much better, especially after the fantastic opening mission. Aeon has to break into a secure building and destroy some information and the whole attack is fast, furious and bodes well for the film as a whole, reminding me a lot of Mission Impossible.
Sadly though it is only the action scenes that add any liveliness to the film. The story, while intriguing enough, is told in a very uninteresting and boring way. You can see the idea behind it is a good one but they never really get to grips with its potential. When you do eventually find out what is going on you don’t really care, you just have no interest in the story any more and just want to see another action packed fight scene, and even they become a little monotonous after a while.

The script is so uninspired and the dialogue so terrible that it feels and looks like even the actors lose interest in it, at least none of them are showing any acting ability, and we know Charlize can act! The only exception to this is Jonny Lee Miller (who I haven’t seen in anything for quite a while now!) who is so over the top on some scenes he just stands out head and shoulders over everyone else. As one of the Goodchild dynasty he plays it perfectly and actually comes out of this terrible film with something to be proud of.

While I am slating this film overall it does have a couple of good set pieces… the first mission, as I have said is very well staged and shot, and the whole section set in the ‘Deathtrap Gardens’, a garden surrounding the building where Goodchild is going to speak full of deadly traps, almost gets quite tense and thrilling, but that is about it!
Nothing else, in my opinion, really worked as well as it probably sounded on paper and I think the main reason for this is that the plot is unbelievable and unnecessarily complicated. At times you really have to watch and listen hard to follow the plot, and that really is not a good idea for a no brainer action movie!

I will give Charlize Theron a bit of credit for actually taking this role, it is a bit of a departure for her and it is always good to see an actor/actress actually not taking the simple option and sticking to the same type of movie their entire career. It might not have done wonders for the Oscar winning actresses career (just like Halle Berry and Catwoman, another black clad woman!) but then I think I would rather see someone branch out and take a risk then just stick to the tried and tested role they are known for and just rake in the money. Unfortunately for Theron this role is not good enough to challenge her and it shows, she does do some good action scenes (or was it her double?) though and does look extremely good while doing them!

A quote from the film goes…… “I had a family once, I had a life. Now all I have is a mission” for me this should be rewritten as “I had 2 hours once, I had a life. Now all I have is a wasted evening!”

Summary: Loads of potential ruined completely by a terrible story.