Slashdot Mirror
Aeon Flux, Talk Amongst Yourselves
Kasracer writes "The movie Aeon Flux has been getting a mixture of reviews since its debut and most tend to be on the negative side. A review posted on BinaryIdiot goes a bit more in-depth than most reviews and gives the movie a fair shot. From the review: "First of all, I have to say that I'm disappointed, but not altogether surprised by the reviews I've seen thus far. Those who review films for a living are notoriously unreliable, and in many cases, they miss the whole point altogether. Rest assured, even though I'm as skeptical as they come, and can find a flaw in absolutely anything, I won't pick on this movie simply because the plot may be too hard for some people to understand."
"
That's not a review. It's two or three comments about the movie and a big parahraph about how he's basically got a boner for Charlize Theron. Booooooo.
I saw the movie last night. It was O.K. from a purely entertainment standpoint. I.e. popcorn flick. But I think if you don't know anything about the MTV anime you'll be lost for half the movie (as I was). It was one of those movies that appears to have a ton of backstory but that they had to cut out a lot to make the movie fit in two hours. Jerky editing in some spots too. Bottom line, I think it would've made a decent tv series but not a great movie.
I just went to see Charlize Theron in a series of successively tighter and skimpier leather outfits. While none of her costumes approached the level of Aeon Flux of the Liquid Television era, I wasn't terribly disappointed on that front.
I didn't expect the movie to be very interesting or very good... but it did exceed my, admittedly low, expectations. I don't know that I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't try to talk someone out of seeing it if they were consiering it.
Simple Machines in Higher Dimensions
While I enjoyed this film, I think that the major reason it receives poor reviews from popular culture critics is the poor character acting. Scenes designed to build emotional rapport between the main characters came of stiltingly, leaving me wondering if the director was so engrossed in the costumes and special effects that they forgot the actors. Charlize Theron is such a brilliant actress (Monster) that I couldn't understand how amatuerishly some of the dialog was delivered. The scene between Aeon and her sister in the market comes particularly to mind.
That being said, I thought the plot of the movie was fantastic, and some of the acting lived up to it. But there's no way a film this far out is going to be accepted by the mass consumers unless they can very closely relate to the characters, as evidenced by the success of Serenity.
Well, not having R'd TFA (who does?), but having watched the movie a few hours ago, I must say it reminds me a lot of Arthur C. Clarke's "The City and the Stars". So much in fact that I would call that book a required preliminary for watching the movie. It doesn't make the plot much deeper in itself, and it certainly doesn't help you suspend your disbelief if you need any help for that, but it may bring you to ask yourself more questions about immortality, eternal memories, constrained societies and whatnot. Plus, Clarke's book is required reading for any self-respecting sci-fi reader anyway :)
N.B.: I never really watched the TV series this movie is based on. I guess that would again change my impression.
The reviewer ends up daring the movie watcher to enjoy the movie. I thought the movie was great. Mostly because it has a very strong and believable science fiction plot. The trailer I saw on TV had me thinking second thoughts about it. It cast this IMO negative light on it about it being another action thriller. True the movie did have it's action sequences and a couple were integral to moving the plot forward, but the rest of the 'action' was thrown in to presumably make the movie appeal to the larger movie going crowd. But it certainly wasn't needed. It is true that if you missed a critical 10 minutes of the movie spread out into small segments, a watcher could be left very confused about what the heck is going on. I plan on seeing it again. The movie has that quality of being one of those that can survive multiple watchings. I never did watch the MTV series. I had heard about it and always wanted to, but never made the time. No matter, the movie was very entertaining to me and well worth the 8.50 I spent on it.
-FlynnMP3
A movie critic said something once that stuck: if I don't get the plot it's not my fault....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
I went to the movie without any pre-conceptions and without knowing anything about AeonFlux. I've not read the comics, or anything.
I was wary going in because of bad reviews, but the movie was surprisingly, evenly good. There was a good story, and the acting was fair. Here's the main difference between AeonFlux and the Matrix, in my opionion:
Both movies start off with jaw dropping premises. AeonFlux actually carries the premise through to the end in a satisfactory conclusion.
Newsfollow.com
when they gave her a backstory (the ever popular family killed/revenge story). wtf, she's suppose to be all mysterious and crap. All I can figure is Peter Chung had to bend over backwards to get this made, just like when The Tick made evil his bitch.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
As someone who saw the original MTV series, I actually liked the film. I realized that it was not going to be identical and once accepting that, it was enjoyable. I give it a 7/10.
:-)
Looking back at the series, there was definitely more bizarre behavior, sexual ambiguity, and such. They briefly hit on these points, but if you never saw the series you might not even notice. I'm kinda glad they didn't try to replicate the tall, anorexic species. It's much more enjoyable watching Charlize instead of some 7' tall freak.
BTW, I didn't RTFA. The title said talk amongst yourselves. Based on the comments, it looks like I saved myself some time.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
I made the mistake of actually watching the movie, and i would like to point out that there are good reasons for the negative reviews. For starters, a plot that lacks the ability to make sense from mone moment to another is not "complicated." It just sucks. If you read the reviews that showed this movie in a positive light, you'll ind that the majority are adolescents that justify all of the rest of the movie's shortcomings with the simple phrase "but she's hot, so it's ok." The public should recieve a formal apology from the director, producers, and writers of AeonFlux for releasing something so horribly done.
for free wallpapers, visit Sargosis.com
I liked your .sig. Is that a quote from someone?
I lifted it from a book by Richard Dawkins titled A Devil's Chaplain. Specifically, it comes from 'The Great Convergence'. There are about 30 pieces in there, from book reviews to lectures, published and unpublished essays, along with a couple of eulogies (including the one he gave for Douglas Adams). Highly recommended reading.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
I saw it last night, and I liked it. Actually, I really liked it.
It's entirely possible that one of the reasons for this was that I'd never seen the original series. What it came down to for me was that it was a Hollywood action flick with a bit less straightforwardness than ordinary. Yes, the plot was a bit confusing at first, because they didn't give you all the answers right at the beginning, but by the end, they gave you everything, and there was the thrill of discovery along the way. I found that the special effects didn't overwhelm the rest of the movie, and while it may have been a little emotionally detached, it built a kind of atmosphere which at the very least was honest to itself. And yes, Charlize was hot with a capital T. It was an action flick that was worth the popcorn, and better than most.
My full disclosure statement here is that I did see Punisher on TMN the night before, it's possible that pretty much anything would look good in comparison.
- ------- There are ten kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who... Huh?
The movie was great. I was a little disappointed in the start, nothing more than nuevo-kung fu action. But, as soon as the story actually get's going it's riveting from there on in. The movie is not a re-interpretation of the series or a continuation, to me it was more of an explanation and a conclusion. If you looked at the Aeon Flux animated series as trash, you will not like this movie. If you looked at the Aeon Flux animated series as pure action, you will not like the movie that much (costumes aren't skimpy enough, and the scenes are too pretty, the animated series, was, well, disgusting and morbid...). If you looked at the series as a precursor for something more, this movie is that conclusion. It's always interesting to see mind benders like the series come out making sense, this is one of those rare times when they pulled it off. Why is Trevor Goodchild a good/bad guy? Why does everyone (including Aeon) keep dying? How will it all end? What is the point? Also, one warning, a Yahoo individual review said that this is an art film, if you can't stand art films you shouldn't see the movie. As far as I'm concerned, they only made one mistake all in all, and that was with the ending (which was still good)....
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
is that people would still mark things off-topic, even when there wasn't any real topic to get off of. No topic of which to get off. You know what I mean.
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
I don't consider myself a hardcore fan, but I am fairly avid. Suffice to say I've never understood how the show hasn't continued or been picked up again ... I liked it enough to think it should, but wasn't dedicated enough to go looking it up.
... typically minor modifications made to better appeal to the masses. I took the changes in stride and they really didn't bother me. I suppose anyone seriously bugged by the changes is also peeved that Chung re-did the animated show in a DVD set to reflect what he originally wanted ... and took out MTV's adaptations. It's his show - his prerogative to do with it as he pleases - but in paticular I think it's good he went back and made things as he originally intended. George Lucas, on the other hand, changed characters to pander to the masses.
... by far most were negative. So I kept my hopes in check, and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
... which I thought was necessary if the movie was to appeal to anyone who wasn't familiar with the show. The animated Trevor was a rather complicated individual. The movie also did a wonderful job of explaining part of the relationship between AF and Trevor.
I take movie adaptations for what they are
Anyway, I was originally hyped to see AF. Before going, I read some reviews which didn't contain plot spoilers
The movie was a wonderful extention of the show. It takes place between two episodes - giving a little more detail to the animated show. Trevor appears to have been split into two people
Winners tell stories while losers yell deal.
In the movie aeon is emotionally fragile. Aeon needs a team to cover her. Aeon is having a very caring relationship with trevor who is really a good guy.
Aeon flux the movie is good as far as Sci-fi movies go. It's just not Aeon Flux.
I do security
I concur that Charlize is not fat. However the one sentence that I do agree with in the GP's stupid rant is that she was not skinny enough to play aeon flux. Aeon Flux wasn't just skinny, muscular and skimpily dressed, she was ridiculously so. The strangeness and grotesqueness of that cartoon is half of what made it interesting. The whole artistic direction of this film doesn't appear to share anything in common with the cartoon. Of course, you would be hard pressed to find a real person with the same measurements as Aeon, however, they definitely could have done something more stylistically inline with the cartoon, compared to the standard slick futuristic feel which they went with.
Anyway, I'm planning on waiting to see the film when it comes out in the dollar theater or rental, but everything I've seen leads me to think that it will be a good action movie, with very little in common with the cartoon.
Remember when all those "funny" cop-buddy movies came out where one of the cops is a dog? (shudder)
Not only do I remember, but I remember when that genre reached its absolute lowest point. They replaced the dog with a gnome. That's right, a human/gnome buddy cop film!