Æon Flux

I am quite surprised, astounded even, that this movie has not received better ratings. It holds a meagre 5.5 at IMDb. Rotten Tomatoe’s ratings are, as usual, pure nonsense with a 10% rating and a big rotten icon. Personally I think this is much undeserved. Yes the movie is a bit silly at times and yes it does not take a genius to figure out roughly what is about to happen nor what has happened in the “mysterious” past.

Still the movie is visually stunning. I would not say that this is a special effects movie in the traditional sense. There are no insane outbursts of explosions, no car chases, no space fights. However, the scenery is quite good and the martial arts stunts are really really good. Maybe I am biased by the fact that I am a male and the main character happens to be a woman in (very) tight suits but to me many scenes where simply visual poetry. There is an especially noteworthy scene where Aeon and a colleague (who have hands instead of feet by the way) are traversing a “garden of death” in order to get to their target. The whole setup is fairly ludicrous. I mean, in an advanced, highly technological, society who would resort to so bizarre means of protecting their main base of operations? Regardless of that, the sequence is just so cool and visually pleasing.

The first two thirds of the movie is probably the best. In the last third it goes a bit overboard with pretty ludicrous gun fights which pretty much defies any logic, science fiction or not. If you have seen old Western movies where the good guy just walks down the street against a hundred “baddies” who all constantly misses him as he, on the other hand, blasts them just by pointing his gun in the general direction…well then you get the picture.

Charlize Theron was doing a quite good job of portraying Aeon Flux but my favourite actor was really Marton Csokas as Trevor Goodchild. His mostly calm yet quite imposing appearance was very enjoyable to watch. I had more difficulties with Jonny Lee Miller in the bad guy role. I felt that he was a bit bland but then I am watching Elementary on Netflix right now and there he is a so much more dynamic and impressive character.

Anyway, if you are a science fiction fan, do watch this movie. It is much better than the ratings give it credit for as far as I am concerned.

I would have given 6 but then the final rises a bit the plot, making it slightly more complex than expected. Excellent Charlize Theron have made me opt for the 7.

Underrated. It diverges too much from the source for fans to really embrace, only hitting a few "best of" moments from the series, but I the source is to textured for a mainstream audience to connect to.
I enjoyed it for what it was, but I understand the critical reception. However I think it was an easy jab to make parallels with Catwoman in that both Charlize Theron and Halle Berry made movies that weren't well received right after winning an Oscar; Catwoman was a true pile of crap, this has flickers of what it should have been.


Random MajorMercyFlush side note: Catwoman was directed by Pitof a French visual effects director who collaborated with Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurection, Amelie) and Luc Besson (Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, Joan of Arc). Unfortunately Catwoman pretty much decimated a chance at breaking into the US. Check out his film Vidoq (Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq for the US release) with Gérard Depardieu and Guillaume Canet, it's very worthwhile and a refreshing delve into the European sensibilities towards film making.

Thanks for playing.

I can say that the Costume design was on another level in this movie

Solid action flick, but the trailer promised more than the film could deliver!

Cool story.. Below average execution..

The ideas behind the world-building concept were kinda cool, and it has a very esoteric feel, like there’s a lot happening beneath the surface. In reality, it ends up being wasted potential, pure emptiness with a stolen, trying-to-be-The Matrix pastiche. The quick cuts and shaky cam ruin the fighting scenes, and the gunfights are embarrassingly bad.

Take a drink every time Aeon does a backflip.

For an action/thriller, this was quite a yawner. The story had the potential to be interesting but the movie was just too busy trying to be cool.

Charlize Theron provided the only star power the flick had going for it which is fine, but she seemed out of place. She was really way too pretty to play the part of Aeon. My memories of the original graphic series are dominated by the lanky, gangly Aeon.

The Goodchilds were weak villains as well. Come to think of it, visually there was nothing earth-shattering going on, either. It could be that I've grown weary of the acrobatic fighting and gun-blasting chaos. Or maybe "Aeon Flux" was just dull.

Was slightly disappointed in this effort. The baseline story is a familiar one where a virus has wiped out much of the earth's population but a small sect has survived and must overcome. Without being a spoiler, there is a nice twist in this movie that has allowed the colony to survive for 400 years but is now starting to break them up. The movie is really confusing up until the point where they let you in on the secret. They all present a very hands off style with the details of the story. By this I mean they don't even make an attempt to explain why Aeon is a combination of Katrina Witt, Mary Lou Retton, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee. Also unexplained is the neural communications and Frances McDormand's character. I'm not sure I was comfortable without knowing something.

Good watch, flows well, it's well contained, and a tight 90.

Grab some snacks and sit down