For those who aren't nearly as pop culture literate, and who haven't guessed, Æon Flux is based on the characters from an MTV animated series. Æon Flux originally started as a series of science-fiction shorts about a girl in a hot outfit infiltrating a cold bunker-esquire environment, and then dying at the end of every episode because she made a mistake. Later, it was adapted into a series about Æon Flux against Trevor Goodchild in an abstract sort of plot.
Æon Flux, the movie, is much more straightforward in its approach, and quite quick about it too. Coming in at a trim 90 minutes (or so), Æon Flux is a shot of summer popcorn in a Christmas-time happy arty season.
The opening information tells us that a virus has killed off 99% of the population of the world, and the remaining 5 million people inhabited a city ruled by the Goodchilds, who created the vaccine. There is a group, the Monicans, who wish the government to fall, as people have been disappearing. Æon Flux is their top agent set to destroy the government.
To give too much of the movie away would be to ruin the surprise, but there is much to be said for the twists and turns of the plot. The movie does ask some important questions and leaves things open-ended. Some of the questions include "is what the government doing to preserve our way of life right?" and "Is the secrecy of the government necessary?" Æon Flux doesn't give straight-forward answers, but instead gives the answers that things may be different than what they seem.
The biggest point of judgment for most people who remember the show is the look. The television show featured a very futuristic and cold look, with very little warmth. The movie gets this right as long as there is a set. When it was filming outside, however, the cinematographer failed to make it look as it should. There was a mild disjunct between the cold smooth sterility of the inside sets and the harshness of anything happening outside. I almost feel that this could have been done with just a change in film stock, or a saturation change.
My other complaint is Frances McDormand who seemed to be just Frances McDormand with red wacky hair in her part. In what should have been an easy part, McDormand stood out as being just herself. It wasn't an emotive part, and could have easily been passed off to an unknown.
These are but mild quibbles in a movie which otherwise succeeds. The action scenes, of which there are rightfully numerous, are quite well done. The real plot of the movie unfolds well, and is actually quite compelling. All in all, MTV Films proves they sometimes know what they're doing yet again.
I actually had an extremely good time at it.
8/10
Æon Flux, the movie, is much more straightforward in its approach, and quite quick about it too. Coming in at a trim 90 minutes (or so), Æon Flux is a shot of summer popcorn in a Christmas-time happy arty season.
The opening information tells us that a virus has killed off 99% of the population of the world, and the remaining 5 million people inhabited a city ruled by the Goodchilds, who created the vaccine. There is a group, the Monicans, who wish the government to fall, as people have been disappearing. Æon Flux is their top agent set to destroy the government.
To give too much of the movie away would be to ruin the surprise, but there is much to be said for the twists and turns of the plot. The movie does ask some important questions and leaves things open-ended. Some of the questions include "is what the government doing to preserve our way of life right?" and "Is the secrecy of the government necessary?" Æon Flux doesn't give straight-forward answers, but instead gives the answers that things may be different than what they seem.
The biggest point of judgment for most people who remember the show is the look. The television show featured a very futuristic and cold look, with very little warmth. The movie gets this right as long as there is a set. When it was filming outside, however, the cinematographer failed to make it look as it should. There was a mild disjunct between the cold smooth sterility of the inside sets and the harshness of anything happening outside. I almost feel that this could have been done with just a change in film stock, or a saturation change.
My other complaint is Frances McDormand who seemed to be just Frances McDormand with red wacky hair in her part. In what should have been an easy part, McDormand stood out as being just herself. It wasn't an emotive part, and could have easily been passed off to an unknown.
These are but mild quibbles in a movie which otherwise succeeds. The action scenes, of which there are rightfully numerous, are quite well done. The real plot of the movie unfolds well, and is actually quite compelling. All in all, MTV Films proves they sometimes know what they're doing yet again.
I actually had an extremely good time at it.
8/10