Aeon Flux (2005)

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402022/

Official Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8StIReu8NoA

BEFORE THE VIEWING

This film happens to be somewhat fresh on my mind. I caught the first half of it on a lazy afternoon of cable viewing maybe 5 months ago. For all that it'd been years since I even thought about Aeon Flux, I remembered a lot of the plot points vividly, and found myself kind of sad to shut off the TV halfway through to go out on an errand.

I never watched or read anything in the Aeon Flux canon before I saw this movie. However, I was always impressed with its execution. I couldn't speak to it as an adaptation, but as a science fiction film, it always stood out to me as a pretty solid depiction of a scientifically-advanced world in turmoil, with a kickass female at its core. I was sold on the concept alone.

Charlize Theron is always fierce, and even though I think her most riveting performances are "Monster" and the lesser-known "Trapped", I always thought she must've done justice to the original character of Aeon. Throughout this film, she's seen managing stunts with graceful ease and an almost bored expression; action is just her everyday situation. I'm excited to see her strut through the new-age sets and careen acrobatically on her way to justice against the evil oppressors.

AFTER THE VIEWING

Yeah, this movie is as good as I remember. As good as I remember, but not much better.

Costumes, the Monacan communications, and other concepts like the liquid surveillance system are so beautifully conceived throughout this movie. Sci-fi movies often struggle to convey the purpose of high concepts, but this film has a knack for depicting things clearly, despite the fact that we don't live in the same technological or social world.

The thing I struggle with is how the movie unfolds its story; it's more than an hour before Aeon's mysterious, hazy past comes into focus with any type of clarity. Aeon goes from sleeping with her enemy, to choking him; the Monacans go from friends to enemies to friends again. There's a lot of back-and-forth going on, and not a ton of explanation as to why. But as I watched, I started wondering: if Aeon's past life was made clearer to her sooner, would we struggle to believe it? Would we still be interested by the end of the film? Perhaps there's something to be said for a movie that slowly lifts the veils of mystery around its main character.

And speaking of the main character, I think I appreciated Aeon a bit more as a female protagonist than I have before. Aeon is pure in purpose. She's nearly unshakeable, but not so cold that she lacks emotion. As she and Trevor evade capture, Aeon leads rather than follows and supports him when he's injured. She's a breaker of walls, a changer of ways. While there is a romance element in the story, the movie is really about the world as a whole - where it was, where it is, and where it will go next.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

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