By By Jim Shea
Loosely based on the mid-nineties MTV animated series, Aeon Flux is an odd, weird and fantastically-imagined vision of the future. Unfortunately, the film's flaws pile up. But while the show's fans may cry foul, but the average viewer has plenty to enjoy here.
The film takes place in a dystopian future, after a virus has eliminated 99 percent of the world's population. A scientist named Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas) cures the disease, and the remaining one percent unite to live in a large, walled city called Bregna.
After 400 years, however, the government has grown oppressive, and a resistance group, the Monicans, has arisen to combat the government. Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is the Monicans' top agent and is given the task of assassinating the government's leader, Goodchild, after the resistance group receives vital information about when he will be vulnerable. Of course, all is not as it seems.
The film presents a fascinating version of the future, where the gadgets are at once mechanical and organic. This world is replete with pills that enable interpersonal communication, plants that double as defense systems, and harnesses that change one's perception of reality. Jarring oddities, that seem to be commonplace in this world, add to the believability of this future. The city, Bregna, looks to be a paradise, but surreality lurks just below the surface. The most creative part of this movie is the portrayal of the basic mechanics of living in the future.
Ms. Theron presents a fair likeness of the animated character. Her fighting style is fluid and graceful, and pays a large part in enabling her to fill the character of the sublimely liquid Flux. She is quite believable as a futuristic assassin with a mysterious past.
The rest of the acting is hit-or-miss. Marton Csokas is surprisingly likable as Trevor Goodchild. However, Oren Goodchild (Jonny Lee Miller), his brother, is prone to bouts of overacting and over-the-top delivery.
The other characters, with the notable exception of Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo), seem to act more as set pieces than well-drawn characters. Little about them is memorable, and they seem to have no backstory. Other than the main characters, everyone else in the world seems rather flat.
The film does differ from the original series in several key areas. In the "Aeon Flux" series, Aeon was an agent of a foreign country; in the movie, she is the member of an underground resistance. The television series always kept the character mysterious, and didn't care much about continuity (in fact, in the animated shorts that were the forerunners of the series, Aeon died in every episode). The movie is devoted to tying up the loose ends and revealing the mysteries that drive Aeon's world. Hence, the film's fit with the series is less than ideal.
At the end, though, Aeon Flux is an enjoyable story that is well-told. It is flawed, certainly, but, overall, it is an exciting action movie, and presents just enough interesting concepts to prevent it from generic status.The movie may entice novices to view the animated series and the shorts that preceded it. Purists, however, may be disheartened by the movie's departures from the source material.
Science fiction enthusiasts who are willing to forgive some problems will surely enjoy Aeon Flux.
Final Grade: C+