This comes across like Logan’s Run meets Barbarella without the intelligence of the former or the kinky tongue-in-cheek humour of the latter. Charlize Theron, wearing a skin-tight outfit and having a very bad hair day, plays Aeon Flux. Miss Flux is part assassin, part freedom fighter but, as we all know, one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist and the rulers of the last city on earth are looking to bring her and her freedom fighter/terrorist buddies down.
You’d think that after 99% of the world’s population died mankind would be struggling for survival, even 400 years into the future but you’d be wrong. The last city looks utopian, with only the fact that some of the residents are mysteriously disappearing putting a downer on things.
This is the kind of SF movie that gives the genre a bad name. Full of what the makers doubtless thought were clever ideas (my favourite being the killer garden) this is silly, unoriginal with even the action scenes feeling stale. Why Karyn Kusama got the directing gig on this after only helming one previous film, Girlfight (2000) is anyone’s guess.
Theron looks like she knows she’s in a turkey while Frances McDormand and Pete Postlethwaite phone in their performances (probably from the bank). Everyone’s got bills to pay I guess.
By my estimation the world is so overpopulated (we are talking over 6.5 billion) that even if you removed 99% of the population that would still leave 66 million people on the planet! We can afford to lose a few I reckon – in the last forty years or so humankind has doubled for crying out loud…
As for Aeon Fux, sorry, Flux, I think just about everyone of the above has acknowledged this to be a Turkey from what I’ve read in the past – I almost considered going to see it just for that costume but I figured I’d rather spend my time and money on something that isn’t going to diminish my brain cell count… :) I almost thought you were going to give it the thumbs up when I glanced at the opening comparison to Barbarella, Ian!