Plot: What’s it about?
If we want to turn the hands of time back a few decades, we’d find ourselves right in the heart of the mid 1990’s. Oh what a great time to be alive! The AIDS epidemic was at its apex, I was in my fifth year of college and the world was still wondering if Ross and Rachel were going to ever get together. Thankfully we all know the answer to the last question. And if you were of the right age and mindset, there was this network that was called MTV. A product of the 80’s, this was the first channel to embrace the music video and popularized them all the while giving the youth of America (and the world) something to watch for hours and hours. As the network matured, it ventured out into some more obscure territory and one of those ventures was Liquid Television. An animated series by the name of, you guessed it, Aeon Flux was popular. Developed by Peter Chung’s it was a sci-fi/anime series that had a sleek visual style and a lot of cool action and violence. And in the mid 2000’s it was time for it to make the leap from small to big screen with two Oscar winning actresses in the lead.
Set in the future, a virus has killed 99% of civilization. The survivors who were saved (via an inoculation) live in a specially designed city called Bregna. However things aren’t what they seem as most are suffering from odd flashbacks about obscure memories. Something isn’t right with all of this. It’s then that we meet the titular character, Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron). She’s somewhat of a rebel who opposes the Goodchild dynasty. A being known only as “the Handler” (Frances McDormand) lives inside her brain and delivers orders to execute Trever Goodchild (Marton Csokas), the ruler of said dynasty and the creator of the virus cure. Aeon believes this man to be the one who murdered her sister, so she’s OK with this plan. But things change when she realizes that it’s actually Oren (Johnny Lee Miller) that’s the ultimate bad guy and this leads to a more shenanigans. Suffice it to say, fights abound, bullets (lots of them) are fired and things may or may not work out.
I’m sure that this movie was an easy one to sell. It had a large cult following, throw in two Academy Award winners, an artsy director (Karyn Kusama) and boom – profits galore. As it turns out, you need a little more than window dressing to sell a movie and have it turn a profit. Part, or most, of the problem with the film is that it doesn’t take the time to establish why things are they way they are. We don’t know who “the Handler” really is, how she got there and why she’s doing what she’s doing. Aeon pulls off her skin in another scene and places it over a man’s wound and heals it. Things like that. Given I wasn’t a hard core fan of the animated series, some of this might be explained. But when you’re trying to sell a movie to the audience, you need to cover things like this. Ultimately it has some good moments and I’ll always make time to watch Charlize Theron in a film, but this was no more satisfying to me two decades later than it was the first time around.
Video: How’s it look?
It’s been a while since I sat down and watched this film. I know I say that often, but given the amount of discs that arrive at my door on a weekly basis, it’s hard to go back and watch films from two decades earlier that I really didn’t like that much the first time. That said, this new 4K image looks so crystal clear, you feel you could touch the actors through your television set. And one of the things I remember about this film is how amazing it looked, even on DVD. The 2.39:1 HEVC 4K image resonates in most every shot. For what the film lacks in plot, it does excel in both style and substance. Contrast is strong with deep blacks and even bright whites prevailing as well as lots of green (I wouldn’t have thought so either). Suffice it to say that this 4K version really pulls no punches when it comes to video quality.
Audio: How’s it sound?
The Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack found on the HD-DVD (that’s right, this was one of the few that found its way to that now deprecated format) has been replaced by a DTS HD Master Audio mix. It has moments and it’s by no means bad, but I found the track a bit front heavy. Even in more subdued scenes, the effects seemed to pack more of a punch. Vocals, though our main character doesn’t utter too many, are spot on, surrounds are active and offer some ambiance and on a technical level, it delivers.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There’s nothing new in the supplemental department, they’re just cashing in on the film’s 20th anniversary. If you’ve seen and/or listened to these features once, nothing has changed.
- Audio Commentary – Actress Charlize Theron and Gale Hurd’s commentary is the more interesting one of the two tracks, with details about the shoot, the story behind the film and, yes, Theron’s jet black hair.
- Audio Commentary – Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi’s commentary is a lot more detail oriented and, well, a lot more boring. Given a choice, I’d listen to the first one.
- Featurettes – In the “let’s have five featurettes that really could and should be one” department, we’ve got these…
- Creating a World – A production design feature that shows how some of the props and the general look and feel of the film were created.
- The Locations – Pretty self-explanatory as we look at some of the different locales used in the movie.
- The Stunts – Again, nothing mind-blowing with this one as we get a look at some of the stunt choreography at work.
- The Costume Design Workshop – This one is misleading…just kidding, we get a look at the costumes and wardrobes.
- The Craft of the Set Photographer – As a amateur photographer, this one caught my eye the most and I found it the most interesting. We get a look at what it takes to be an on set photographer.
The Bottom Line
Some movies get better with time and others just age and are as good/bad as they were when originally released. I’d have liked to see the entire version of this film, but alas this is just the same ‘ol stuff in a new Steelbook case. If that’s your thing, this is for you. If not, likely you can find this movie for a dollar or two on eBay.
