Aeon Flux 4K Steelbook review by Bobby Blakey
In 1991 MTV debuted the experimental animated series Liquid Television that featured a slew of original animated features including Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux. After its 6-episode run, Aeon Flux spun off into its own series from ten-episode series in 1995. After its popularity it made the leap onto the big screen in the live action feature in 2005 starring Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Johnny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Frances McDormand, and Pete Postlethwaite from Girl Fight and Jennifer’s Body Director Karyn Kusama. Now the film is returning to home media on 4K for the first time.
Aeon Flux follows Æon Flux, a mysterious assassin. four hundred years in the future, set in the year 2415, four centuries after a virus nearly annihilated the human race, leaving only five million survivors in a utopian city called Bregna. Aeon is struggling to destroy the Goodchild regime led by its namesake, Trevor Goodchild, the ruler of Bregna and a descendant of the man who found a cure for the deadly virus. As instructed by the Handler, Æon is assigned to assassinate Goodchild, but there are deeper secrets to be discovered, and conspiracies to be foiled.
Like most of the time, I was all in on all things MTV and loved every episode of Liquid Television and their other animated series Oddities. Aeon Flux was one of those anime style bizarre things that you just couldn’t help but get sucked into. The animation was beautiful and even without any dialogue in the original shorts still was compelling and delivered on every level. The unique nature of it all made for something that I wanted to see come to life but was also one that was nearly impossible to make happen.
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With the look of Theron in the lead role, it gave a small hope they might find a way to make it work and while it is an interesting enough sci-fi action film it just isn’t Aeon Flux. This is a property that I think could have only worked as an animated film due to the unique strangeness of it all. They found some of the elements to make it feel like familiar to the source material but the cuts, uneven nature and lack of creativity outside of the surroundings made it more generic and forgettable.
I heard there was a better version out there from the director’s original vision, but she was fired and it was tweaked and changed from what it was intended to be. Likely people that have zero understanding of the source material which is evident of the finished film. If it hadn’t been Aeon Flux it could have worked on some level despite its issues thanks to some fun action and over-the-top ideas, but sadly it falls into that failed attempt of bringing one of the coolest animated ideas to life.
I am sure there are those that enjoy it, but I recommend just checking out the original series instead, but if you are a fan of this film then more power to you and you can grab this new 4K Steelbook available now from Paramount Home Entertainment.