So, why? Well, Aeon Flux was recommended to me about 5 years ago by an ex-girlfriend… Apparently an ex with terrible taste in films.
Aeon Flux, Charlize Theron, is a freedom fighter known as a Monican, fighting against the secretive government of Bregna. After her sister is murdered by the Chairman Goodchild (Marton Csokas) defeating Trevor Goodchild becomes a personal vendetta, that is, until she realises that she was once his wife.
As it transpires, the entire nation of Bregna is comprised of infertile clones. A virus wiped out 99% of the population and the cure made the remaining 1% infertile. Trevor Goodchild has been working on a way to “fix it” for 400 years. However his brother wishes to remain immortal and for humanity to continue cloning itself.
To that end Oren Goodchild turns on his brother and demands his execution. In a final firefight Oren reveals that women have begun to give birth again and that he has been ordering their execution. Oren and most of his guards are killed and Aeon destroys the cloning ship. The End.
It is difficult to criticise the script for this film, because it doesn’t really exist. Most scenes have less than five words of dialogue and those that have more are simply filled with the exposition needed to power the matrix-esque action sequences.
The action sequences themselves may have been inspired by that “mother of all rubber/leather clad action movies” but they don't look anywhere near as good. The final fight for example features special effects and stunts that wouldn’t look too far out of place in an episode of the Power Rangers. Neither would the Villains.
The film certainly has the feel of a graphic novel realised on the silver screen, but like, for example, Chronicles of Riddick, it does not inspire me to read it (or in the case of Aeon Flux, watch the miniseries). Which is a shame, because some quick research tells me that true Aeon Flux fans also hated the film and that it bore little resemblance to the story they know and love.
So this film fails as an action movie, it fails as a drama, it fails as a billboard for the Aeon Flux brand, does it succeed at anything? Erm… No…
Next month I will be using Marton Csokas to connect us to the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
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