Aeon Flux-How Many Peter Chung's Does It Take to Screw in a Light bulb?
When reviewing sci-fi I suppose it is permissible to “dork-out” a little bit, so let me start by quoting Dr. Zachary Smith from the original Lost in Space television series, “oh the pain. The pain.” If you were a fan of Peter Chung's Aeon Flux, you were excited but probably a little scared to hear that a film was in the works. Well, I am here to tell you that you should have been a lot scared.
This is one of the clearest examples I have ever seen of trying to do to much with to little. The film, to use an overused cliché (which is sort of cliché as well isn't it?) collapses underneath its own weight. That's not a joke about Charlize Theron she was pretty thin in this one and pretty hot but not as hot as in Monster, but still pretty hot. She does, however, look physically awkward and uncomfortable during much of the film, which I am assuming was the result of a fairly serious injury during filming. But back to collapsing under its own weight—here is the core of the problem. Budget. Budget. Budget. $60-$70 million to be exact.
Budget Problem Number One: A budget of $60-$70 million for a film of this size and scale is simply not enough by modern blockbuster special/visual effects driven feature. It should be enough but Hollywood went insane years ago and now, that is chump-change for a big-budget science-fiction film. The lack of budget is evident everywhere in the CG, in the sets, in the costuming, or is it that the cash was just not managed correctly?
Budget Problem Number Two: The budget at hand was simply not used correctly. All sorts of “balls” were dropped in this regards. Producer Gale Anne Hurd is not know for producing too many turkey's but ouch, this had its problems. This was a 35mm shoot if I am not mistaken, why? This is the kind of film that absolutely should be high-definition. I won't get into all the reasons this is the right move for a film of this type, but there is a reason Lucas only uses HD on the Star Wars films and Cameron is switching to HD for all his new sci-fi megabudget features. Done correctly HD can save some serious cash. Peter Chung looks pretty unhappy, in my opinion, in parts of the DVD extras and has reportedly said as much. There were obviously numerous other problems.
Problem Number Three: Girlfight director Kayrn Kusama should not have been directing this film. End of story. I want to see more female directors on big budget projects, but the over-rated Kusama of limited experience was not the right pick. Now, either one of two things happened, there was a failure to properly oversee what Kusama was doing, or there was a failure somewhere else in pre-production that made it impossible for her to direct the film adequately.
Problem Number Four: Preproduction. With inadequate sets, props, special and visual effects, and costuming this film should have never made it to the point where they began shooting. I know it cost bucks to delay shooting, but $60-$70 million in and about $10-$15 million at the box-office, combined with what must have been limited DVD rentals...well they should have waited, fixed the problems and done it right.
Problem Number Five: No matter what is claimed it is difficult to believe that Peter Chung was given enough input. I doubt very much this film was anything near what he had in mind.
Summary: Its the future, most of the population is dead, which seems to be a reoccurring theme in sci-fi, and there is one last city left and its under a tyrannical form of government. Set several hundred years in the future Aeon Flux is an assassin trying to overthrow this government. The MTV animated series upon which the movie is based was quite well done and edgy for its day. The film adaptation while having a few interesting moments really falls short of the source material's potential and simply makes for a depressing experience for the audience and more than likely for the creator of Aeon Flux, Peter Chung as well.
Oh and the punchline to the headline of this review. How many Peter Chung's does it take to screw in a light bulb? Zero. They can't screw in light bulbs as they are too depressed. This should have been a cash cow, this should have been a highly profitable series of films. Tragic.
Story D (If you haven't seen the animated series, it could be tough going. Regardless, problems with pacing and execution.)
Acting C
Visuals B (The only real saving grace of the film is that there are some good visuals here and there, but this was the kind of film that was suppose to be littered with great visuals.)
Originality/Innovation D
Enjoyability Grade D
Home Theater/HD Factor B- (Above average overall, some scenes will look good. This falls into the “turn down the sound category.)
Overall Grade D+ ($60-$70 million dollars is a lot of money. Use it wisely.)
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