Aeon Flux Film Review

Director: Karyn Kusama
Year: 2005
Rating: 5.5

In 2005 there were two big budget films that had much in common - Ultraviolet and this film. Both were set in a dystopian future after a pandemic wipes out much of humanity. Technology has greatly advanced, those in power have created a totalitarian state, each has a lethal female rebel as the hero and both received poor reviews and crashed at the box office. It is interesting that these two films were produced - totally dependent on a female action character. There hadn't been that many in Hollywood's long history. Plenty of murderers, blackmailers and seducers but few action characters. Pam Grier of course comes to mind but her Blaxploitation films were not mainstream. Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight was a wonderful exception. Then there was Charlie's Angels but that was titillation more than anything. Over in Asia of course - particularly Hong Kong and Japan - female action roles had been around for decades and were accepted and popular - and I think the popularity of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon woke up Hollywood executives to the fact that there might be a market for it. Angelina Jolie used her box office clout to make the two Lara Croft films before this and though neither of these films did all that well, the doors were open to female action stars and they have become common place in all types of films. It would seem strange in an action film not to have at least one. That is a good thing. Of course, the other commonality between these two films is that they made little sense and took lots of jumps in logic from the audience for granted.

In 2011 99% of the world's population was lost until Goodchild found a cure. The remaining few million people set up in a single city with high walls around it and no knowledge of what was happening on the outside. Four hundred years later two Goodchild brothers still rule the city. Life has become sterile and ordered and people are just disappearing. An underground rebellion has sprung up with well-trained assassins but the best is Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) - who has had a few modifications to help her carry out her missions. Her Batwoman styled outfit is tight and alluring. Not really discreet. Messages are passed by pills that you swallow and then can communicate with the head of the organization (Francis McDormand). Her friend Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo) has had her feet turned into hands to better assist her ability to jump about.

Aeon gets an assignment to assassinate one of the brothers - Trevor (Martin Csokas) - but when she has the chance she hesitates. Something in her memories holds her back. The more she digs into that, the bigger the conspiracy gets. There are a number of fine action scenes - two with females fighting each other - helped with CGI - and there are just cool bits of technology. But damn it flows so badly, gets confusing and people appear as if there is transporter technology. One moment here, the next miles away. And a lot of goobly-gook tech-speak that left me wondering if I was an idiot. But the biggest fault is that it has no emotional core - it seems to exist simply to look good and that it does. From the opening scene when Aeon catches a buzzing fly in her eye - I have got to try that - to the architecture to the outfits - it is a feast for the eyes but none of it really mattered. Jonny Lee Miller plays the other brother and Pete Postlethwaite has a small role.