Are we heading into a totalitarian state? If America’s government grows in power and answers to no one, would it make you wonder where we are headed?
If you are looking for answers to these questions then steer clear of “Aeon Flux.” If you want to see a good action film to fill the void of a Saturday night, then it is not a bad pick.
In the year 2011, a virus wipes out 99 percent of the population. Dr. Goodchild manages to save five million people. From this, he establishes the city of Bregna: the last city on earth.
Now, 400 years later, problems have begun to arise. People are experiencing weird dreams and the government is killing people without a known reason.
A rebel group, the Monicans, exists in the midst. Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is the most skilled assassin of the Monicans, and she has been chosen to kill Goodchild. In Aeon’s attempt to kill the doctor, she discovers the reality beyond the illusion.
The exposition is rushed through as quickly as possible in order to fit yet another essential action sequence proving Theron is more bendable then a new stretch Armstrong.
The movie is based on an animated series that aired on MTV in the mid-1990’s. The inexperienced writers, Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (both of “The Tuxedo”), put the audience on a conveyor belt, never allowing them to stop and get off in the future world.
The director Karyn Kusama who won acclaim for her indie debut “Girlfight” seems to have become lazy with “Flux.”
Instead of defining the world of the character, she just ignores it. Kusama seems more concerned with creating a female action star than creating an interesting story with a clear message for the world.
The glimpse of the world that the audience sees is a series of concrete buildings resembling a world of parking decks.
Theron, despite these challenges, does an amazing job playing Aeon. Without it being written, she manages to make Aeon interesting to watch. It is refreshing to see a strong woman take control while still being feminine.
The only other character that gets slightly defined is Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas) who manages to pull off “mysteriously understood” enough to pass. The rest of the cast’s hairdos are more developed then their characters.
Some interesting points are made in the movie about division of country, and how long a country can survive in that state, by having a scene like the Lincoln assassination appear; however, this idea is never fully developed.
Another interesting idea that is brought up, but which is never fully developed, is the alienation from nature. The society is kept apart from nature by a wall around the city. And like all good dystopias, it questions what makes a life valuable or good.
The entire time, Trevor Goodchild tries to return their society to the society we have today.
This makes you wonder: Why do we progress? What is the point of progress? Maybe we should all just stop rushing through life and enjoy it.
Although “Aeon Flux” is not a great film and could have been so much more, it still makes you think.
So stop rushing, enjoy life and maybe go see “Aeon Flux.”
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