Last night I saw the film
Aeon Flux, and am pleasantly surprised.
The flick not only didn't suck, but was pretty good.
Sure,
Charlize Theron just reconfirmed for me that she can do whatever role she darn well pleases, and do it well, but the overall translation of this anime to live action came across very well, and without a lot of obvious CG bolstering.
Sure, some of the things didn't come across well (turns out the whole tongue fixation, though used blessedly little in the film, just isn't "there"; and the series' monologues caused the film to tread dangerously into "show, don't tell" waters).
Theron plays a tough Aeon, and my only criticisms are she's a bit attractive (not angular enough) for the original character, and they softened her a bit -- which makes sense, since they don't have as much time for her character to arc in the film as they did in the series.
Martin Csokas? Surprisingly strong performance, and a good balance for the heart injected into the film.
And
Jonny Lee Miller, with a "small but crucial role", was fun to watch -- I'm actually now looking forward to him in
The Flying Scotsman.
Liking
Aeon Flux might have been helped by my being a fan of the original MTV
Aeon Flux animation from
Peter Chung, and his technical advisor position on the film is pretty apparent.
My fan-ness doesn't blind me too much, though (
remember my spiel about Doom)?
Do
check out the movie site, though. In particular, there are some interactive comic books that can be played from more than one perspective, with multiple endings.
Oh, and
Graeme Revell does the music.
Revell is the Aussiie (or maybe Kiwi) version of
Danny Elfman. And both are brilliant.
