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Aeon Flux
Paramount Pictures

Aeon Flux reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 36 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.2 out of 10
based on 23 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 128 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for sequences of violence and sexual content

Starring Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Frances McDormand, Pete Postlethwaite, Amelia Warner, and Caroline Chikezie

In this futuristic sci-fi thriller set 400 years in the future, Charlize Theron stars as Aeon Flux, the top underground operative at war with the totalitarian regime governing what appears to be a perfect society. But is this perfect life hiding a perfect lie? Aeon is on the front lines of a rebellion that will reveal a world of secrets. (Paramount Pictures)


GENRE(S): Action  |  Adventure  |  Drama  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Phil Hay
Peter Chung (also characters)
Matt Manfredi (also characters)
 
DIRECTED BY: Karyn Kusama  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: April 25, 2006 
Theatrical: December 2, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason Anderson
It's all so geekily gorgeous, it hardly matters that the narrative lapses in and out of incoherence and the dialogue is functional at best.
Read Full Review
63
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The ideas underlying Aeon Flux's plot are the film's strength, and the filmmakers deserve some credit for doing more than paying lip service to them.
Read Full Review
60
Slate David Edelstein
Aeon Flux is not that terrible. It's certainly more fun than a lot of films that get lovingly showcased.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The futuristic thriller is overly familiar and never especially gripping -- and too somber and cerebral for the young action crowd -- but it looks terrific and is in no way an embarrassment.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
By forcing definition on Flux, the filmmakers rob her of any allure. What do they offer instead? Clumsy exposition, bland PG-13 gunfights and subpar computer animation.
Read Full Review
50
LA Weekly Mark Olsen
The plot frequently resets/realigns itself in the fashion of "Lost" or "Alias," as good guys become bad guys, friends become enemies, and combatants become lovers. To portray confusion and uncertainty is one thing; to make a film this unsure of itself, wracked by its own faulty footing and reticence, is quite another.
Read Full Review
50
Premiere Ryan Devlin
What made Aeon Flux compelling and special as an animated series had everything to do with the medium and the freedom Chung was given to shape the story as he pleased. Take away those elements, and Aeon Flux becomes nothing more than middling science fiction, which is unfortunately what the film is.
Read Full Review
50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Theron is an arresting image, but, like everything else in Aeon Flux, she's stranded in a trashy and derivative glum zone of fashion-runway fascism.
Read Full Review
50
Washington Post Desson Thomson
With the exception of a few enjoyable action scenes, such as when Aeon and fellow operative Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo) flip and backflip their way across a lethal garden of bullet-spewing trees and spikes disguised as blades of grass, Aeon Flux is surprisingly draggy.
Read Full Review
50
Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
Kusama offers moments of inspiration, but it frustrates like hell that she couldn't nail it completely.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
While its heart is in the right place, Aeon Flux's head is just a little too high to make much sense.
Read Full Review
40
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Gone are Chung's willfully irrational non sequitur surrealisms, vertiginous designs, dry humor, and physiological weirdness; now we have Charlize Theron trying to look icy, leaping about in resistance to a future dystopia that looks a lot like an overlandscaped European Union industrial park.
Read Full Review
40
The New York Times Dana Stevens
It's a movie best appreciated for the costumes, the sets and Ms. Theron's haughty athleticism.
Read Full Review
40
Variety Justin Chang
The future looks alternately grim and hysterical in Aeon Flux, a spectacularly silly sci-fier that plays like "The Matrix" crossed with "The Island" and reinterpreted as a long-lost Michael Jackson video.
Read Full Review
38
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This live-action cartoon tries to walk the line between pleasing the faithful and appealing to a broad-based action audience. It fails on both fronts: It's too lifeless and watered-down to stand on its own high heels, but commits the cardinal sin of messing with the original.
Read Full Review
38
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The wordless six-minute animé shorts - at the end of which our double-jointed heroine would always die - don't lend themselves to a 95-minute action movie where viewers might rightfully expect something to make sense.
Read Full Review
30
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Smultaneously silly, ostentatious and terribly boring.
Read Full Review
25
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
Aeon Flux is the sophomore picture from Karyn Kusama, who's first movie was a modest boxing film called "Girlfight." Here she's in over her head. The movie's sexual and scientific ideas never come through, and the characters would be fun only if they came with a joystick.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It's hard to sit all the way through Aeon Flux while fully awake.
Read Full Review
20
Los Angeles Times John Anderson
If Aeon Flux is what Charlize Theron does to pay the bills while otherwise being engaged in "Monster" and "North Country," it's probably a reasonable price to pay. For her. For us? No, no, no.
Read Full Review
20
Empire Kim Newman
Depressing and trivial.
Read Full Review
10
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
Every rumor you’ve heard about this film is true; it’s an absolute wreck.
Read Full Review
0
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Aeon Flux is by far the year's worst movie, a most dubious achievement.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 128 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kevin gave it a1:
Awful overall. The characters are wooden, the acting uninspired, and the plot decent at best. On the plus side, the special effects are good, and Charlize Theron is extremely hot in skin tight clothing.

Bernard P. gave it a2:
Well id give it at least a 3 if it wasn't for the horrible aftertaste. I'm sorry but I am not sorry because this mediocre movie shows no respect to the trueness of what aeon flux was and still vaguely is. its disrespectful to the cartoon. 1/4

[Anonymous] gave it a7:
Though flawed, Aeon flux pulls some surprises with its occasionally brilliant concept of using cloning to further a society, and the action here and there helps out the pacing. It ultimately fails to match masterpieces like the matrix, partially b/c of its overly comic book look and awkward "final solution". But that doesn't mean it isn't a movie worth seeing.

Karen C. gave it a1:
This is the worst of simple eye candy. Very bad.

Mac T. gave it a10:
Rating this flick 10 just to offset the nonsense scores of zero. As scifi flicks go, I found this one to be very entertaining. Great concept, good execution, and a fine-looking film overall. A right-straight voodoo curse on all those who either cannot appreciate a good action pic or are so hung up on a specific comic concept that they can't enjoy an inexact adaptation.

Steve gave it a0:
Boring, poorly directed and poorly made movie. This is garanteed to put all but the most forgiving, or those that have some kind of dvd player that sits on you and forces you to watch this rubbish, to sleep. Aimed clearly at anime geeks that are looking for a fix of overly pretencious but utterly shallow and empty movie with no real innovation, talent or thought behind its story. Looks like its designed by some generic cloned art grad student.

Jason gave it a3:
Poorly scripted, poorly plotted, poorly acted and poorly made. In short a real disappointment.

Read more user comments...

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