"'Aeon' Sux"
by Scott Mantz

"Aeon Flux"
Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas
Directed by Karyn Kusama

Baby's in black! Charlize Theron strikes a pose in "Aeon Flux"

Sheesh, will they ever learn?

By “they,” I mean Oscar-winning actresses, who have a strange tendency to follow up their big victories at the Academy Awards with misguided box office spectacles.  Some call it the “Oscar Curse,” others just bad judgment (perhaps initiated by the lure of a big, fat paycheck), but either way, it's a vicious cycle that tends to repeat itself every few years.

There's Mira Sorvino, who followed up her Supporting Actress win for 1995's “Mighty Aphrodite” with the buggin' sci-fi flick “Mimic.”  Then Kim Basinger followed up her Supporting Actress win for 1997's “LA Confidential” with the devilishly bad “Bless the Child.”  But Halle Berry takes the cake for following up her Best Actress win for 2001's “Monster's Ball” with not one, but two bad choices – “Gothika” and “Catwoman,” the latter of which earned her a Razzie Award for Worst Actress (hmm, I wonder if she keeps that next to her Oscar?).

Now it's Charlize Theron's turn.  She follows up her revelatory, Oscar-winning performance in 2003's “Monster” by getting back in sexy shape for “Aeon Flux,” a convoluted sci-fi flick that's based on a cult animated series that ran on MTV in the mid-90's.  Okay, so maybe Theron deserves a break, since she just gave a terrific, Oscar-worthy performance in “North Country,” but she actually filmed that after “Aeon Flux.”

To be fair, perhaps Oscar-winners are so drained from their emotionally grueling performances (not to mention their heavy awards season campaign schedules) that they just want to let their hair down with something completely different.  And that's fine, as long as the project in question has what it takes to make a good movie – qualities like engaging characters, a good script and an interesting story.  But “Aeon Flux” has none of those things, and not even cool stunts, decent special effects and Theron's tight-fitting outfit can make up for it.

Set 400 years in the future, disease has wiped out most of the earth's population, save for one small, protected area – Bregna, a totalitarian city-state that's ruled by a congress of scientists.  Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) is a top operative in the underground resistance that's trying to overthrow the corrupt regime, but when she's sent on a covert mission to assassinate the government's leader, Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), she uncovers a world of secrets that make her re-evaluate her own identity.

Karyn Kusama hasn't directed a movie since her attention-grabbing debut, 2000's critically-acclaimed “Girlfight,” but it's easy to see why she was attracted to “Aeon Flux” – both movies feature strong, independent female leads.  But going from a character-driven, low-budget indie to a stunt-heavy, $55 million Hollywood production may have been too much of a jump.  The direction is choppy, and the fight scenes can be hard to follow.  And as written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (based on characters created by Peter Chung), the characters aren't very engaging, and the convoluted story is too derivative of other sci-fi movies that we’ve seen before (most recently in “The Island”).

But Charlize Theron is watchable in just about anything, and there’s no doubt that she gives a physically grueling performance – so grueling, in fact, that she suffered a serious spinal injury just nine days into production.  But all that effort seems wasted, since her character is so thinly veiled.  Faring even worse are Marton Csokas as the target of her assassination, “Hotel Rwanda” star Sophie Okonedo as Theron's protégé and Theron's “North Country” co-star Frances McDormand as the clairvoyant leader of the resistance.

Oscar-winners certainly have a right to make a bad movie just as much as the next actor, but maybe they're subjected to more scrutiny simply because they have that prestigious award hanging over their heads.  Let's face it, lots of Academy Award-winners have a turkey or two to show for themselves (just ask Cuba Gooding, Jr.) – it's just that they're a little more glaring when they come so close to the night of their big win.

Charlize Theron isn't the first person to be in this position, and she certainly won't be the last – especially if they never learn!

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