Æon Flux Reviews

While out promoting Atomic Blonde in 2017, Charlize Theron mentioned Æon Flux and her ultimate disappointment with the movie. She remarked that while she never had complete faith in the project, she wanted to trust in director Karyn Kusama but acknowledged that they “fucked it all up” because they couldn’t execute the concept. A startling and honest acknowledgement for a film that deserved the punch, even if it did come twelve years late.

 

Creator Peter Chung decried his unhappiness with the script routinely, and while creator gripes with adaptations of their material can occasionally play like sour grapes this was a case where it was warranted. He even went so far as to proclaim that “Ms. Flux does not actually appear in the movie.” The lynchpin of his criticism, that someone involved didn’t trust the audience to go with the source material enough and watered it down into something bland and unrecognizable, is essentially the crux of my argument as well.

 

Æon Flux stinks of studio interference as there’s plenty of ideas and set designs that sparkle with a better, more imaginative work struggling against notes and mandates. For all the biomechanical fauna and weird world beat interior design, the camera drinks in Theron’s cat suited rebel with a lasciviousness that makes you wonder if a woman was really behind the camera. And the less said about the choice to give Sophie Okonedo’s character hands for feet the better as it tips into some imagery that is racially loaded and deeply uncomfortable. You can see the film Kusama was trying to make and the one that the studio engineered and neither of one is particularly good.

Both the acting and storyline are kind of lame and so, this film gets a 6 star from me, due to a few decent action scenes and of course the main saviour of the film, the smoking hot Charlize Theron, who is probably the only reason most people watch this film!

Silly fun. The action is nice, mostly creative. The flowers and city are pretty. The power balance not being absurdly against the main character is something I appreciate. The science and moral are very very soft. Carnivores find a way! Bunch of plot holes too.

Even though I heard only bad things about this flick, since I have weak spot for Charlize Theron, I still wanted to check it out. First of all, following her Oscar winning turn in 'Monster', Charlize Theron chose to do something completely different and she should be praised for that. And indeed, this flick really had some potential. There was a great cast (Charlize Theron , Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Frances McDormand, Pete Postlethwaite) and they managed to create a rather fascinating world but still, the whole thing didn't work. The biggest issue was that the plot was so generic and disposable, it made the whole thing rather boring to watch. I think their big mistake was that they tried too much to rationalize this futuristic world. Indeed, that was just one of the qualities of the original MTV cartoon : the cloak of mystery surrounding this fascinating world. After removing it, it made even less sense and the whole thing became rather ridiculous and pointless. Anyway, to conclude, I have seen worse movies, there were even some good stuff here but, eventually, it remains a disappointing flick and it is not really worth a look.

"I had a family once, I had a life. Now all I have is a mission."

Aeon Flux is really quite dreadful; nothing more than a no-brainer sci-fi live-action flick based on the animated TV series.

First of all, the style and atmosphere are terribly artificial. There's far too much CGI and digitally expanded sets that detract highly from the overall film value. As a result of this heavy reliance on CGI we can't get engaged in the film at all. The characters are all horribly conceived but executed worse. The actors are all terribly wooden not to mention lifeless and unexciting. And for the final nail in the coffin, the film is so awfully predictable beyond belief!

Aeon Flux is a sci-fi film set 400 years into the future subsequent to 99% of the world's population being wiped out by a virus. The only survivors live in a society with a corrupt government. A group of rebels called 'The Monicans' attempt to overthrow the government and put an end to this corruption of the highest level that has gone on too long. Then when one of their soldiers named Aeon Flux (Theron) is sent to assassinate the chairmen named Trevor Goodchild (Csokas) she discovers a whole new mystery.

The only thing that holds this rubbish together would be the action scenes that are tame but mildly entertaining. There are guns aplenty as well as many characters that do nothing more than showcase their acrobatic skills in front of the camera.

Charlize Theron is an actress I usually admire, but unfortunately here she's emotionless, dull, lifeless and just plain terrible. It would take a long time to mention all the members of the cast I was disappointed with, but I think it goes without saying that even the extras couldn't bring anything good to the table. The direction was very empty, and the atmosphere filled with CGI only made it increasingly hollow. The music didn't add anything more to the movie.

Aeon Flux had the potential to be the decade's The Fifth Element but unfortunately it screwed up every opportunity it had. There is no wonder that it took me so long to finally finish watching this film. It's even more two dimensional than the cartoon! And hence, I kept getting increasingly embarrassed to watch the movie and it continued watching it another day. Boy, I wish I never decided to give this film a shot. My advice, and I suggest you take it: Avoid!