Directed by Karyn Kusama. Starring Charlize Theron; Martin Csokas; Jonny Lee Miller. Running Time: 93 mins.
I don’t know why this was so universally reviled by the critics. Sure, it’s no masterpiece, but it is by no means the worse sci-fi film made. There are in fact some really nice touches that mark it out from the crowd.
Charlize Theron as Aeon is strangely neither as funny or sexy as the cartoon version of the character, which is strange considering we know she is more than capable of both these things.
The problem, and it is something that happens with most cartoons that try to make the leap to a larger format — the original medium that they existed in, and the strictures based upon said medium, are often what made the whole thing work and hang together so well. With the MTV series each episode could deal with a single idea and didn’t need to bother with too much exposition. The film makes the mistake of over-explaining itself sometimes, instead of allowing the history of the characters to become evident by the way in which they react. The film also has less fun with the idea and loses some of the perversity that Peter Chung’s original had in spades.
It also missed the boat as far as the popularity of the genre went. The cartoon inspired much of what came after, much of what made it into the cinema, so by the time it arrived, what was once seminal seems old hat. But as stated, this is not a bad watch. It’s only 93 minutes long, you get a lot for your money in that time, and it’s not the worse way to pass those moments.
