A World in a State of Flux
For the second time in less than two months a Hollywood studio took it upon themselves to cancel all advance screenings of one their major releases for both critics and audiences. The first was Sony’s “The Fog” back in October, a minor budgeted horror remake that was no better or no worse of many other of this year’s more middling entertainments. Sure it wasn’t any good, but it wasn’t so bad the studio should have felt the need to keep it hidden until release, creating a perception of mediocrity that was light years away from the rather banal truth.
Now comes Paramount’s even more high profile (and at a reported $80 million far more expensive) adaptation of the MTV animated sensation “Aeon Flux.” Starring Charlize Theron and advertised heavily for nearly a year, this was supposed to be one of the studio’s holiday tentpoles, a glorious sci-fi spectacular that was going to earn million and set up profitable sequels to be released over the next decade. But then word started to leak out that things on “Aeon Flux” weren’t going so well, “Girlfight” director Karyn Kusama mucking up her sophomore effort so spectacularly everyone involved with helping make it started distancing themselves as quickly as humanly possible.
Lo and behold, Paramount freaked out completely and decided to cancel all screenings, press and audience, for the movie. Like “The Fog,” “Aeon Flux” was perceived a disaster long before it saw the light of day, so handing it to critics to disembowel before milking audiences out of at least a few million just seemed like a bad idea to studio executives. Except, “Aeon Flux” isn’t that bad. If anything, it even has some good ideas and some fine moments, Kusama crafting a bizarrely intoxicating spell that’s oddly mesmerizing. That doesn’t make it good, it’s still too rough and cliché ridden for that, it just isn’t so bad to warrant all of Paramount’s secrecy. While Kusama can’t direct an action scene to save her life, as “Girlfight” proved she is remarkably self-assured with actors and as silly and absurd as Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi’s script gets there is always the performances to hold on to even when all else around them falls completely to pieces.
The plot is almost incomprehensible yet somehow still intriguing. In the year 2415, Bregna is the only remaining city on the face of the Earth. Billions of humans were wiped out by a demonic plague over 400 years prior, and only through the hard work and perseverance of the Goodchild family did people survive at all. Four centuries later, ancestor Trevor (Marton Csokas) and his brother Oren (Johnny Lee Miller) rule with an iron first. Those that cause trouble or disagree with the government disappear. On the surface, Bregna may look like the perfect society, but deep inside it is dying, and if change doesn’t come soon humanity might vanish from the face of the planet entirely.
Helping facilitate that change is an underground resistance whose best operative is the lithe and lethal Aeon Flux (Theron). Overwhelmed with grief by the murder of her sister Una (Amelia Warner) by the city’s secret police, she waits for the day she can perpetuate her revenge. That day finally arrives when her superior, known only as Handler (Frances McDormand, looking a tad embarrassed), orders her to kill Bregna’s leader Trevor Goodchild. Only too happy to oblige, when the opportunity to put a bullet in his head presents itself Aeon finds she cannot pull the trigger. The revolutionary discovers that there are things going on in the city going far beyond her limited thoughts of revenge, things that cast Trevor in an entirely different light. Assassin becomes protector, and as the city’s secrets are revealed agents on both sides of the war pull out all the stops to make sure both of them are sent to an early grave.
I have to admit, now that I write it all down this synopsis does sound a little like every other futuristic B-movie sci-fi thriller about dictators and revolutionaries I’ve ever seen. But the basic plot isn’t why “Aeon Flux” is interesting. The look and feel of Kusama’s epic is downright astonishing, Andrew McAlpine’s production design truly extraordinary. Technically, the feature borders on being one of the best looking of the entire year, Beatrix Aruna Pasztor’s costumes and Stuart Dryburgh’s cinematography being particularly fine. Better, as thin as the script is Kusama still manages to cast an invigorating vibe that constantly tickles the imagination.
But there are big problems, and they really are the ones that must have caused Paramount to have concerns. As good as she is with actors, Kusama can’t direct an action scene. The movie’s violent set pieces are absurd, so frenetic and incoherent they aren’t even as good as the average ones showcased in a syndicated late night cable television action spectacular. The editing is as chaotic as the gunfire, and every time someone took off running in beautiful slow motion I couldn’t help but giggle. These moments are preposterous, the final third of the film building with all the precision and kinetic fury of a frozen burrito, exploding after being cooked too long in the microwave.
Still the silliness of the action pales when compared to the lunacy of the majority of the movie’s plot mechanics. As simple as that earlier stated synopsis sounds, “Aeon Flux” is surprisingly complex. The thing is, as deep and multifaceted as much of it gets, none of Hay and Manfredi’s script makes a lick of sense when you try to add it all together. The world creator Peter Chung developed in animation may be distinct and unusual, but if a person knows nothing about it (and I didn’t) beforehand then they shouldn’t expect to know any more after leaving the theater. It’s all a bunch of sci-fi nonsense (everyone talks telepathically after ingesting sparkly blue and pink water, people have their feet replaced by a second pair of hands, individuals live – apparently – as holograms for 400 years), and excuse me if I’ve already seen far too much of it before.
Yet, for a good sixty minutes or so I kind of liked “Aeon Flux.” Theron is a fine (if a bit one note) heroine, while Csokas cuts a dashingly pained swath as the conflicted senior Goodchild. I also simply adored Sophie Okonedo (playing that aforementioned four-handed woman), the actress so perfectly suited to her mysterious assassin (Aeon’s star pupil) I found myself wanting to see a movie just about her. When it falls apart, though, it does so with a resounding thud. The third act is as silly and asinine as they come, Kusama and company falling on their faces so completely they’re probably all sharing a collective bloody nose.
Apparently, the producers of the feature didn’t want to involve Chung or anyone else who was involved with the groundbreaking anime-style television show. True or not, their absence is still felt. I can’t help but think “Aeon Flux” would have felt a bit more solid (and made a lot more sense) than it does now had they helped work on the movie. There is plenty to like, however, and a heck of lot that’s downright captivating, making me wonder once again why Paramount would decline to screen it. While this review, and probably the majority of everyone else’s, isn’t exactly positive it certainly isn’t a rant, and if that’s what the studio was afraid of they certainly missed the boat there.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
