Monster
Crap Inductee: Aeon Flux
As
Painful To Watch As Walking On Sharp Bladed Grass
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2005
There
used to a time when MTV look risks and weren’t just the show that did reality
TV. It was in the 90s (when MTV was Music Television and not whatever it is
now) and back at that time, one of those risks was an experimental animation
show called Liquid TV, which would have like 7 animated segments by different
people each episode. One of the most popular of these short segments was Aeon
Flux.
It was
a very unique animated show by Peter Chung and I think if anyone saw it at the
time, they would say they had not seen animation designs like this show. It was
a blend of dystopian science fiction, biopunk, social commentary, and spy
fiction made in a psychedelic imagery and multiple religious symbolism. It was
really awesome (getting its own series eventually) and the success of Liquid TV
probably gave MTV the idea to go with more animated shows like The Maxx and The
Head.
It Also
Didn’t Hurt For Young Adult Men That The Female Lead Looked Like This And Knew
How To Use Her Body To Get Things Done.
Unfortunately,
it took years to make this movie (with a $55-62 million budget (delays
included) from then Paramount head Sherry Lansing) and it would come to the
directorial vision of Karyn Kusama. Now where have I heard that name before?
Yeah,
Much Like That Induction, This Film Has Its Fans Despite Being Well, On This
Site.
Although
unlike Jennifer’s Body, you will see that this was not entirely Ms. Kusama’s
fault . In fact, when this film happened, she had just had a very good
independent movie under her belt in Girlfight, which launched the career of
Michelle Rodriguez (who you may remember from when I inducted Bloodrayne all
those years ago). In fact, originally it was going to be Michelle Rodriguez as
Aeon Flux, which would have been a reunion for the two, but that didn’t happen
for whatever reason. And if you are wondering what Ms. Rodriguez was doing
instead, well….
Yeah, She Was Doing That Film Instead Of This Film.
So
instead, the role of Aeon Flux went to Charlize Theron, who at this point was
very well known as a great actress. She was in films like The Devil’s Advocate,
The Cider House Rules, The Italian Job remake, and oh, I forgot to mention that
she won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2003 for a film called Monster.
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And
Considering She Went From Being Extremely Beautiful To Not So Beautiful, She
Was Definitely An Actress Who Would Do The Work For A Role.
And
boy, did she do the work for this role (for better or worse at times, as you
will see). So I don’t think anyone at the time thought this was terrible
casting. What wasn’t as popular, however….was when they showed her outfit in
the trailers and to say it was less revealing than what the cartoon character
was wearing was an understatement, but if you’ve seen that actor…..no one was
wearing that thing for a whole movie.
Now
let’s talk about the other actors and actresses and it was a pretty good cast.
You had Frances McDormand (who also won an Oscar for Best Actress (her win was
for Fargo), an up-and-comer in Sophie Okonedo (who was in Hotel Rwanda), Martin
Csokas (who was in XXX), Jonny Lee Miller (who was in Trainspotting) and Pete
Postlethwaite (who was in In The Name Of The Father).
Now
before we begin this movie, I do have to mention that we do have some Monster
Crap alumni in this film (besides Kusama, who we know did Jennifer’s Body). We
also have Jonny Lee Miller.
Who Was
In Dracula 2000
We have
Pete Postlethwaite.
And
there is a uncredited cameo from Charlize Theron’s then boyfriend at the time,
Stuart Townsend.
He Was
Dorian Gray In The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman
And
with that out of the way, let’s get into this mess of a movie.
We
begin the film with text.
I Must
Have Missed This Whole Thing Considering It Is Now 2026.
We then
see Aeon Flux in bed as a fly flies by and she catches it with her eye lashes,
just like the opening of the Aeon Flux cartoon.
Aeon then
grabs the fly as we get the title card.
She
then lets the fly go and we find out the year is 2415.
We hear
narration from Aeon Flux talking about Bregna, which may be the perfect society
to some, but to others, they know it is really an authoritarian nightmare created
by the Goodchilds with a blimp always flying around called the Relical, which
is supposed to be in memory for all the people who have passed away from the virus
that caused this dystopian future. There are of course walls to supposedly
protect the people of Bregna from the outside world, but really keeps people in
a gilded cage.
I Think
It Is Here Where We Need To Explain That Kusama Wanted To Shoot This Movie In
Brasilia (The Capital City Of Brazil) As She Felt That City Is What Bregna
Should Look Like, However The Heads At Paramount Were Against It Because Brasilia
Lacked The Infrastructure And Technical Expertise To Support Shooting A Big
Movie. Instead The Film Was Shot In Germany In The Cities Of Berlin And
Potsdam.
We also
find out that people disappear everyday and are never seen again, shown here by
a woman getting taken with her red scarf being the only thing left.
We then
find out that there are rebels that Aeon Flux is a part of called Monicans who
are not willing to stand by while this happens and aim stop the Goodchild
regime.
And I
Guess We Should Talk About The First Problem With This Film As It Changes Quite
A Bit.
You
see, in the cartoon, there are two cities called Bregna and Monica and the
Monicans are agents from Monica who hate the Bregnans and the tyrannical rule
of Trevor Goodchild. But we couldn’t do two cities apparently so Bregna is the
only city and the Monicans are now just the rebels of Bregna with no reason why
they are called Monicans.
We then
see Aeon Flux meet and make out with another Monican.
Played
In A Cameo By Charlize Theron’s Boyfriend At The Time, Stuart Townsend
This
kiss is all just a ruse as the other Monican is passing a pill to Aeon Flux
that enters her system and allows her to meet with the leader of the Monicans
known as The Handler.
Now
before I continue, I must mention that this whole scene is mostly a recreation
of a scene in the cartoon where Aeon Flux and Trevor Goodchild kiss and the
kiss to hide that they are passing a rolled up photo from one fake tooth to
another.
Back to
the movie, The Handler tells Aeon that they have an assignment to sabotage
Goodchild’s central surveillance system. Back outside this Handler world and
into the city, we see an old man searching for his daughter, who was taken two
months ago.
It is
also here that we see Aeon Flux meeting with her sister Una Flux.
Apparently,
Aeon is supposed to be coming to dinner to meet Una and her husband Claudius.
Unfortunately, Aeon has been given a mission and she will be late to dinner,
which upsets Una as she knows Aeon is part of the Monicans. They argue over
whether to rebel or to just accept the way things are and ignore the bad stuff.
We also see in this conversation that Una is the only good thing in Aeon’s life
and that Una has a surprise for Aeon, which she will reveal at the dinner if
Aeon comes. Hope that doesn’t get taken away or this dinner never happens.
We then
go to this mission at night where Aeon knocks out a few guards and enters the
building.
While
Wearing All White, Which More Says Fashion Than Being Hidden. A Stupid Mistake
A Lot Of Movies Do With Stealth Sabotage Scenes.
Also a
lot of the taking out of guards scenes is done in quick cuts to hide that they
were probably done really slowly since Charlize Theron (despite doing most of
her own stunts for this film) is not a trained fighter. She does gymnastics to
enter the surveillance place, which is water with clips.
She
uses some Mission Impossible type rope work to set up a football like device to
muddle all the surveillance water.
Aeon
escapes as the mission is complete and we go to Una, who is preparing dinner
when she gets a door bell ring. She thinks it is Claudius coming home early,
but sadly it is just some guy who shoots and kills her.
Aeon
tries to go to Una’s place when she passes by people carrying her corpse and a
policeman saying that Una was a Monican agent (even though she wasn’t).
Aeon
Does Not Take This News Well Although She Doesn’t Act Out On It
The
next day, Aeon is awaken by her memories of her sister.
And
This Nightie Is The Closest You Will Get To The Attire Aeon Wears In The
Cartoon.
As she
drinks some water that turns black, she then gets transported to the room in
her brain as she gets a new mission from the Handler.
She
gets a mission to kill Trevor Goodchild, which is the mission she has been
waiting for since if she had that mission, her sister may still be alive. Aeon
is ready and we get this weird shit with a flower coming out of Handler’s mouth
which spreads pollen on Aeon and gives her a map on her arm.
Aeon
wants her protégé Sithandra for the mission, which Handler allows. We then go
outside and we meet Sithandra.
Who Has
Had Body Modifications So Her Feet Can Be Additional Hands So She Can Have
Extra Appendages To Grab Onto Things
Sithandra
says Aeon should get these, but Aeon says she likes her shoes too much. So they
break in and we see bio-weapons in the garden here with fruit that shoots darts,
which are taken out by a device that acts like a EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse).
Wish I
Could Explain It More Than That, But I Can’t.
Unfortunately,
that does not stop the grass being bladed, which punctures Sithandra’s leg hands.
She
still continues on with the mission and we get a moment that most people know
from this film.
As Aeon
Barely Stops Herself From Getting A Face Full Of Bladed Grass
Sithandra
also saves her from slipping and warns her to stay off the grass. This whole
scene with the garden of bio-weapons is probably what most people know this
movie for and it still holds up years later. Absolutely impractical, but it is
gorgeous to still look at. Back to the movie, Aeon tells Sithandra that they
will rendezvous elsewhere as Aeon has to go into the building alone.
In the
duct, Aeon starts throwing to the ground little marbles that come from her
ring.
We then
go to a meeting with the Bregna council which is headed by Trevor Goodchild and
his brother Oren.
A
member of the council named Giroux is against the violent method of going
against the Monicans and Oren yells back at him that this isn’t up for debate,
which Giroux answers that he is putting it up for debate.
Trevor
says we should keep this impersonal and tells Giroux that the latter would not
want the former to take that outburst against his brother personally. An aide
for Trevor whispers something in Trevor’s ear and Trevor leaves, saying this
meeting is over. Trevor also has Oren come with him for a chat. He tells his
brother that he is worried about the edge Oren has taken. Trevor basically
tells his brother is this is all being done so he can have his work
uninterrupted and stuff like Oren’s anger in there is not helping. Oren agrees
and apologizes. Trevor asks about some test results and Oren says they are all
negative. Trevor tells him to find a new test group by morning. Oren then wants
to give up on the tests for a better future as the present they are in now is
almost perfect, but Trevor disagrees as this was always meant to be temporary. The
aide tells Trevor that he needs to prepare his speech.
So as
you all know, Trevor Goodchild is the villain/love interest of Aeon Flux and
their relationship in the cartoon is always rather a complicated love/hate one as
they are attracted to each other (as they do kiss and sleep with each other at
times) yet have different goals as Aeon wants to free the people, but Trevor is
rather a dictator who allows Aeon to try and stop him, but only because it
helps him as well. Aeon Flux (the cartoon) is a strange show in that regard and
would probably be too complicated for most viewers who have not seen the
cartoon. However, Oren Goodchild is an in-movie character as he was never in
the cartoon so you can kind of guess why he is here.
Back
with the movie and Aeon herself, she takes out another guard and uses his head
set as a map around the place since the map on her arm is not all that great as
far as getting in. She also still throws around the marbles. We see Trevor
preparing his speech as Aeon looks on. She then goes to kill Trevor, but Trevor
calls her Catherine and while remembering a time when they kissed, Aeon stops
after hearing that name.
WHY DID
YOU SAY THAT NAME???!!!
Aeon is
then taken down by guards and arrested. Aeon wakes up in a prison cell and a
wall shows Trevor with two guards on the other side. Trevor asks the two guards
to wait outside (which they do) and then talks to Aeon about her knowing him
somehow. After Aeon admits that she was there to kill him, Trevor says they are
both alive for a reason. He doesn’t know what is going on, but it was good to
see Aeon. Aeon is then given food and water, but she sees that something is in
it with a secret eye so she doesn’t drink or eat.
She
then uses the air duct to whistle and remember those marbles from earlier?
Well, they form attach to the wall opposite her cell and blow up so she can
escape.
Alarms
blare and Aeon goes to another place to take out more guards. Sithandra,
through a communication device in Aeon’s ear, asks for an update, with Aeon’s
response being that she needs more time and not to question her. Outside, some
members of the council are talking to Oren about not being happy about a
Monican breaching their defenses and after being captured, was not immediately
killed so she could escape. Oren says it will be taken care of, but the council
is starting to have mutinous thoughts about their boss. Oren stops all of this
by saying they don’t have the right to question what his brother does. Oren
then says he should talk to his brother while the rest should be more discreet
with their thoughts. He has his aide follow him and we find out that Oren is
the one who tried to mastermind his brother’s assassination and is upset that
it failed.
Yep….Oren’s
Only Reason For Existing Is To Be The Actual Bad Guy Of This Film Instead Of
The Complicated Villain/Lover That Trevor Was On The Show. Hollywood Definitely
Believed Audiences Would Be Too Confused By That So Let’s Make An Straight
Forward Bad Guy To Help Them. It’s This Kind Of Insult Of The Audiences’
Intelligence That Gives Hollywood The Bad Reputation It Has With Moviegoers.
Anyway,
there is an image retrieval to show the prison escape and Oren definitely knows
who Aeon Flux looks like, which makes him unhappy. We go to the greenhouse
where Una’s widowed husband Claudius is working at and Aeon wants to have a
chat with her former brother in law.
While
Claudius Also Gets Some Abuse That Some People Would Be Rather Aroused By.
Aeon
wants to know why Claudius is still here as he is still working for the people
who killed Una. Claudius says that Aeon is the reason Una is dead because they
thought Una was a Monican along with her sister. Claudius says that like Aeon,
Una was the only person he had in the world, and now working is all he has left
of a life. He then reveals that he doesn’t think Trevor was at fault and
something is wrong with them that Trevor is trying to fix, like the memories of
things that never happened in their dreams. He says that his work is part of
Trevor’s experiments to fix the problems and to study what is going on outside
the wall. Basically when the unnamed disease was cured, there was a side effect
he doesn’t know about that also happened. Aeon talks about the water she was
given and thinks it was a doping drug in it so she wants Claudius to tell her
what drug is in it. Claudius reveals that it isn’t a drug, but actually a
message and the only way Aeon would know what that message is, is for her to
drink it. Aeon goes to leave, but Claudius reminds her that he did love Una.
Aeon
goes back to a spot and drinks the message water. Aeon tells her that he is
sorry for the pain, but it is not safe to talk in the open so he tells her
where to meet him. Aeon finds Trevor in his room and they have a conversation.
Aeon thinks Trevor is the reason her sister is dead and Trevor says he had no
idea about it. He tries to excuse her death by saying everyone is involved in
this conflict and Aeon correctly says that she wasn’t involved. Trevor gives
Aeon a gun and Aeon thinks about killing him, but doesn’t. Aeon is confused by
the fact that for some reason, she knows Trevor. Trevor also wants to know why
she came back and what she wants from him. Aeon grabs his collar and says she
wants her sister back, as well as wanting to know what it is like to be a
person again. She lets him go after seeing blurry images of the past and wants
to know why she feels strange around him. Ultimately it ends with them making
out.
Then a
few minutes after they start making out, we cut to Aeon waking up obviously
nude, but we don’t see anything because of course this is PG-13.
I Think
It Is Time To Explain A Few Things About This Film
You
see, when most of this film was being made, the head of Paramount was Sherry
Lansing and Lansing had all the faith in Karyn Kusama that she was willing to
let her shoot the film the way she wanted it shot, which would be rated R. One
of the planned scenes here was a sex scene between Aeon and Trevor that would
have shown Charlize being nude. Unfortunately before the film was finished,
Sherry Lansing resigned as the head of Paramount. So once the film was
complete, the new head of Paramount as well as other producers saw the finished
film which was R-Rated and felt like an arthouse film which they did not want.
The film was basically taken away from Kusama and cut to ribbons to make it
PG-13 and more like a usual big budget movie at the time. Kusama was
understandably pissed about this and vowed she would never work on a film
unless she was given final cut. Another such cut also involved finding out that
one character was gay or bisexual as while Hollywood producers may not be
homophobic for the most part, they are scared a lot of the homophobia affecting
their bottom line (which is money).
Paramount:
They Were Pieces Of Shit Long Before They Merged With Skydance And The Company
Was Headed By Trump Dicklicker David Ellison
Anyway,
back to the movie. Aeon tries to kill Trevor again, but again….she stops
herself from finishing the deed.
You
Know, I Could Think Of Worse Ways To Go Out Than The Last Thing You See Before
You Die Being Charlize Theron’s Nude Body On Top Of You
Aeon
puts her clothes on and investigates Trevor’s place. She sees a ring on the
ground and goes to pick it up, but moving it reveals a hidden staircase.
Well,
Obviously She’s Going To Have To Go Down These Stairs. Too Much Of A Low
Hanging Fruit Of Curiosity.
She
goes down the stairs and sees what looks like a regular library with doors that
are made to look like flower petals.
She
then senses that this library is not what it appears to be and using a special
device that wraps around the person sees that this room is really a secret
laboratory.
She
listens to an audio tape where Trevor says that something is missing in his
formula among the test groups. She also finds an old photo of her that is a
completely different person.
She
takes the device off and is immediately attacked by Trevor’s aide, who has a
big ass gun.
Aeon
dodges the bullets and then they fight between the library and the secret lab,
obviously destroying things.
Hey….Some
Of Those Chemicals Could Have Been Very Important In Trevor’s Research
Aeon is
ultimately able to escape into another room before the aide can grab her big
gun and shoot the Monican. Aeon runs through the hallways as the aide and two
guards chase her. Aeon is able to escape so the aide goes back to check on
Trevor with doctors, which they find Trevor to be okay. The aide (who we find
out is named Freya) tells Trevor the bad news (after getting the doctor and
guards out of the room) and Trevor is not surprised. Trevor is not happy that Freya
attacked her though and tells her that he wants her alive. Trevor asks if Oren
is aware of this and Freya can’t find him.
We then
cut to Oren, who is in a meeting with the other members of the council. Oren
agrees with the council that Trevor should be removed as the head of Bregna for
his dangerous actions of allowing a Monican assassin who tried to kill him, to
live (as well as sleeping with her, which they all see with the viewing water).
Oren is obviously next in line, so he is the new head of Bregna so his first
action is to capture Trevor so he can face punishment for his crimes.
Things
Are Definitely Going Oren’s Way, Even If His Plan To Have His Brother Killed
Failed.
We then
go to the next day as Aeon looks at the sky. She looks at the a robot that is
on the wall and kills the vegetation around it so it doesn’t take over the
city.
While
listening to the audio tape, Aeon Flux finds out that her sister was part of
the 7B group that had their data picked up by the Relical. Sithandra shows up
and Aeon tells her the situation has changed, but her protégé reminds her that
their orders have not changed. Aeon says she is not following orders anymore and
because of this, the protégé points a gun at her mentor and tells her that she
has to take her in.
The two
then fight and despite Sithandra’s feet hands, Aeon is able to take down her
protégé after a few minutes.
Student
Does Not Surpass The Master Today
Aeon
hogties Sithandra up and leaves. Aeon then decides that she needs to jump from
the highest point, cling on one of the banners, and climb into the Relical.
Now
It’s Time To Talk About A Thing That Caused This Film To Be Delayed While
Shooting
You
see, Charlize Theron actually believed in Kusama’s vision for this film so much
that she wanted to do her own stunts, even though there was a stunt person for
her because of Screen Actors Guild rules. Sometimes that can be a good thing as
it puts less pressure on the editors to not have to make people believe that an
actors is doing the crazy stuff when they really aren’t as the actual actor is
doing the crazy and dangerous stuff. It can also be a bad thing as shooting had
to be delayed by a month because on the tenth day of shooting, Charlize Theron
actually suffered a neck injury during one of the stunts. Thankfully, it wasn’t
too bad as she was only hospitalized for five days and had to do about six
weeks of physiotherapy to recover, but as we know from the whole mess with Red
One, even a month of delays can cost money so that did not help the film’s
budget as you really can’t do much with the person who most of this movie is
centered around being out of action.
Back to
the movie, while entering the Relical, we see an old guy in a strange, fleshy
suit looking at reading out names and finding out they “returned to stream”.
Aeon is about to pull out her gun when the old guy sees her.
He Is Just Known As Keeper
His
first words in seeing her is “Welcome Back”. He then leaves while pointing at
the wires, basically signaling to her that she can figure out whatever she
needs with then. She touches the strings and says the name “Una Flux”. The
machine says we was successfully collected and re-cloned to be Sasha Prillo. Yes,
she finds out that whenever someone dies, they are cloned and given to a new
couple who need a child. She finds out Sasha Prillo’s address and aims to go
see her sister. She immediately busts into that house, points a gun to her new
family, and finds that Una Flux (now Sasha Prillo) is a baby. She knows it is
her sister by her eyes.
We also
see that Sithandra hiding underwater with a straw, scratching herself so she
can meet with the Handler in her brain. She tells the Handler that Aeon has
gone rogue and has let Trevor Goodchild live so Handler summons other Monicans.
Their mission along with Sithandra is to eliminate Aeon Flux and then complete
her mission of killing Trevor Goodchild.
We then
see Oren and guards looking for Trevor Goodchild, but being unable to find him.
We find out that Trevor is in the Relical as well and is told that Aeon was
there as she was looking for her sister Una. Trevor looks up Una Flux and we
find out that Una was part of a Testing Group 7B for his experiments and every
one of the group was killed in police action authorized by Oren Goodchild. Trevor
then tells Freya to go to his lab and get the notes from his research while the
aide tells him that he needs to get to a safe place because Trevor has been
labeled a traitor and they all are looking to arrest him with Oren in charge. Trevor
says he is going to look for Aeon.
As Aeon
picks up the cloned baby of her late sister, Trevor shows up to explain
everything to her that as when Trevor found the cure for that virus and gave it
to the people of Bregna, it had the side effect of everyone becoming sterile and not being able
to procreate. To fix this. Trevor cloned everybody. This was actually done as a
way to explain away the first two seasons of Aeon Flux the cartoon because in
them, Aeon died at the end of Season One and every episode of Season Two, with
the next episode having her return as new like nothing happened.
Anyway,
the Relical is basically a hidden cloning station hidden in what is supposed to
be a memorial for everyone who was killed by the virus. They use a food
additive to induce a chemical pregnancy so they can have a baby even though it
biologically isn’t theirs. We also find out that Trevor and Oren have cloned
themselves for seven generations, which is how we have the 400 year reign of
the Goodchild regime. The idea is to keep finding a cure without it ending when
they died. Trevor says this whole clone thing wasn’t supposed to be permanent
and would only continue until they find the way to fix the sterility and get
people to procreate naturally again. We then find out that Testing Group 7B
were killed because Una Flux was found to be naturally pregnant, thus would end
this whole cloning thing as Oren wanted everything to stay the same. So now
Aeon knows that the surprise Una was going to give Aeon at the dinner party was
that she was pregnant. Oh, Aeon definitely now wants to kill Oren for this.
We go
to the garden as Claudius is beaten up and interrogated by Oren and his guards
over where Aeon is. Oren says he doesn’t understand people like him and Trevor
with their devotion to the past while this present is “perfect”. Claudius says
he couldn’t live without those things while asking how Oren could. Oren leaves
without answering and Claudius is killed by Oren’s guards with the actual
headshot being done offscreen.
Aeon
gives Sasha back to her parents and leaves with Trevor. A sound bomb is dropped
on everyone and Sasha and her parents run away at Aeon’s insistence so they
don’t die. Trevor and Aeon get knocked back. The police come in and the two
have to run for it. Trevor gets wounded, but Aeon kills several policeman. They
run to a subway and get on the train with several policeman killing
indiscriminately We find out that Trevor’s wounds are not life threatening. They
leave when the train is stopped. While on a bridge, Aeon tells Trevor via ADR
that they can’t go to a Monican safehouse because of the whole them trying to
kill Trevor thing. When they get to a space where no one would think to look,
Aeon gets the bullets out of Trevor’s body and we also find that she has
patches of skin that act as quick regeneration adhesives.
Aeon
says she might have to go outside the wall, but first she wants to end this
with Oren Goodchild. Trevor reveals that he needs to sneak back in and get his
research notes on the successful test group. They find people who still follow
Trevor to get re-armed with weapons. In the halls, Aeon asks about the photo of
Catherine, which Trevor explains that she was his wife and she died during the
disease outbreak, where he was told she could not be brought back via cloning. For
seven generations, Trevor and his clone were always taught about Catherine and
who she was so the memory of her would never fade. This of course explains all
the blurry visions Aeon had as a past life with Trevor and somehow she was
always subconsciously looking for him.
Outside,
Sithandra was helped by other Monicans and is told there is a coupe going on so
things are a bit crazy. They also have a tracker for the pill inside of Aeon so
they can easily track her. Trevor and Aeon find the lab, but it has been
destroyed with Freya dead.
Aeon
tells Trevor that they have to keep moving. Aeon says the last thing she needs
to do is destroy the Relical so the idea of Oren’s status quo could be gone. Trevor
says that is a terrible idea as there is no guarantee he will re-find the cure,
but Aeon says that every generation, they are unraveling more with past
memories. Trevor says that if she does this, they will die and Aeon says they
were always meant to die as it is what makes anything that happens with them
matter. Aeon says living like this is torture, but Trevor says that is not how
he feels, especially not now that he found her. Meanwhile, Sithandra formulates
a plan with the other Monicans to go to the top of the two spires together to
get a perfect shot at Aeon and Trevor.
Aeon
and Trevor walk through a garden of cherry blossoms (always one of the most
beautiful trees to walk by) and Trevor is still trying to convince Aeon not to
blow up the Relical. Of course that debate is interrupted when Oren shows up
with his guards. Oren reveals that it goes deeper than his cure and that other
women have been getting pregnant naturally besides the one test group so he has
had to have them killed too to keep the cloning status quo. So for all the
importance of the whole cure dilemma, just throw that shit out the window
because women getting naturally pregnant again will just happen naturally. Also,
Oren’s plan to keep the status quo seems more and more pointless as eventually
the cat is gonna be out of the bag and people like Oren who have been hiding
it, will be in deep doodoo. While Sithandra and the Monicans are in position to
shoot, Oren then says that nature is obsolete.
……
……
I’m
sorry, but with all these assholes talking about AI and the current
administration fucking over nature so badly, I am so convinced that some tech
executive or government official is legit at some point going that nature is
obsolete that I am just sad hearing that freaking line in this movie.
We Are
So Fucked….
A bunch
of the authorities surround the place ready to fire at both Trevor and Aeon. We
also see that in the past, Oren actually told the Keeper to burn Catherine’s
body so she would not be cloned. Basically, he always saw Catherine as a
problem with Trevor’s work and would have stopped Trevor from “doing what
needed to be done”.
Oren
Really Is A Son Of A Bitch
While
the brothers are talking, Aeon is able to somehow have a private conversation
in her brain with Sithandra and Aeon is able to talk Sithandra out of following
the orders from the Handler. Oren is about to kill Trevor when Sithandra shoots
Oren.
Then
there is another shootout scene with the Monicans, Aeon, Trevor, and the people
that work for Trevor. Eventually most of the Monicans and guards kill each
other. Oren is not dead and when he gets up, he aims, shoots, and kills
Sithandra with the rocket launcher that Aeon had brought to blow up the Relical.
With
Oren dead, Trevor is back in charge of Bregna instead of the third from the
ladder being in charge (because I guess that is how that works in Bregna) as
the other council members come and immediately listen to Trevor’s orders. The
only excuse they give for no longer being part of a mutiny is Giroux saying
this.
Giroux:
Whatever we are,
we’re not anarchists.
I Don’t
Think This Film Knows What Anarchists Are.
Meanwhile,
Aeon goes back to the Relical since that rocket launcher is all out of bullets.
She sets up bombs all around the place and then talks to the Keeper. We find
out that it was the Keeper who decided to keep Catherine’s DNA alive and clone
Aeon, against Oren’s orders as he knew she was important so he kept her DNA
hidden at the Relical and only cloned her when the time was right. He gives her
his blessing to blow up the Relical and essentially kill him, saying that he
has waited 400 years for the day and he is tired of being alive. So Aeon jumps
out of the Relical, hangs onto one of the banners, and the Relical blows up.
Aeon is
able to get to safe ground as the Relical falls and is destroyed.
The
Relical breaks through one of the city walls and now Bregna is no longer
contained from the outside world.
Aeon
and Trevor holding hands as we are left to ponder what the future will be for
everyone left.
Aeon’s
narration comes saying that now we can move forward and we can once again only
need to live once with hope for the next generation. We then go back to a time
in the past where Trevor and Catherine talked and Trevor asks if he will see
Catherine again, which she says he will.
And
that is the end of this movie.
Well,
whatever happened (if it was the cuts, the departures from the source material,
or just the fact no one cared for an Aeon Flux movie), this movie did not do
well at the box office, making only $52.3 million against a $55-63 million
budget. Plenty of finger pointing happened, but it doesn’t matter as the film
was not also that well received by the public, having only a 9% on Rotten
Tomatoes. Even Peter Chung (the creator of the Aeon Flux cartoon) was
devastated by the final product despite having high hopes when seeing the sets
during the making, calling it a “travesty”. He mostly hated how the film
treated Aeon and Trevor’s love/hate relationship in the film to just mostly
being love and even said that “Ms. Flux does not appear in this film”. Although
for some reason, some people consider it a cult classic.
As
far as the cast and crew goes, it’s a mixed bag of whether people suffered or
people were in the same spot afterwards where they were when they were cast in
this film. Charlize Theron (who played Aeon Flux) is still an A-Lister, being
able to be in big budget films and being Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury
Road (although her relationship with Stuart Townsend ended in 2009). Kathryn
Kusama (the director) directed Jennifer’s Body next (and there is an induction
with my thoughts about that film) and then in 2013, had a pretty good film
called The Invitation. Frances McDormand (who played Handler) went on to win
two more Oscars for Best Actress with Three Billboards In Ebbing, Missouri and Nomadland
(both great films). Sophie Okonedo (who played Sithandra) went to theater
mostly and in 2014, won a Tony Award for Best Performance In A Musical in a
revival of A Raisin In The Sun. Paterson Joseph (who played Giroux) went on to
play the villain Slugworth in 2023’s Wonka.
So
time for my final thoughts on this film. I know this film got edited to shit,
but even if this film was not edited, this film would still be bad. This
completely betrays a lot of what the cartoon did and while I appreciate the
effort plenty of people give for this film, it was misplaced on a terrible
script. Heck, unlike most dystopian films, they don’t even have a name for the
virus (it’s just the virus). How lazy can you get when you don’t can be to not
even do the smallest things. Sometimes, a show should not be made live action
or into a movie and I truly believe Aeon Flux was one of those shows. As I’ve
hinted at, this is the perfect example of people making movies insulting the
intelligence of the audience and it deserves a lot of its criticism.
Thankfully,
that will be the only film out of my summer that will be a bad film. The next 4
films will be films that get criticisms, but I completely enjoy and you’ll see
my enjoyment in those films. The first one of these films I like was in the 90s
and as Linkara and other comic book reviewers will tell you, the 90s really had
a fad about being extreme. That extreme also led to having comics that were
dark and brooding. One of those dark and brooding comics was actually very
successful and a film for it was made. That film is a film that probably gets
forgotten (especially in the idea of movies having black comic book
characters). This film is…
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Time
For Some Fun With Some Dated CGI.
