Aeon Flux [WS] [Special Collector's Edition]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Based on the animated series by Peter Chung, Aeon Flux imagines a future in which 99 percent of the world's population is killed through industrial disease, and the survivors live in a single city that, despite utopian appearances, is quite totalitarian. Disinclined to embrace any particular ideology outside of a hatred for Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), the leader of the council that governs the walled city, hyper-sexualized assassin Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) seeks to bring about a revolution. Retaining the title character's trademark jet-black hair and sleek, revealing clothing, this film adaptation fleshes out the story behind the sexual and romantic tension between Aeon and Trevor. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Features:
  • cc
  • Five eye-popping featurettes
  • Commentary by Charlize Theron and producer Gale Anne Hurd
  • Commentary by co-screnwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi
  • Theatrical trailer

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Charlize Theron - Aeon Flux
       Marton Csokas - Trevor Goodchild
       Jonny Lee Miller - Oren Goodchild
       Sophie Okonedo - Sithandra
       Frances McDormand - The Handler
       Pete Postlethwaite - The Keeper
       Amelia Warner - Una Flux
       Caroline Chikezie - Freya
       Nikolai Kinski - Claudius

• Director:

  Karyn Kusama

• Producer:

  Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Goodman, Gary Lucchesi, David Gale

• Screenwriter:

  Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

• Cinematographer:

  Stuart Dryburgh

• Composer (Music Score):

  Graeme Revell, Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek

• Editor:

  Peter Honess, Jeff Gullo, Plummy Tucker

• Production Designer:

  Andrew McAlpine

• Art Director:

  David Warren, Sarah Horton

• Co-producer:

  Martha Griffin

• Executive Producer:

  Tom Rosenberg, Van Toffler

• Costume Designer:

  Beatrix Aruna Pasztor

• Set Decorator:

  Bernhard Henrich

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Manfred Banach

• First Assistant Director:

  Lisa Satriano

• Casting:

  Karen Lindsay-Stewart, Laura Rosenthal

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Charlie Croughwell

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Syd Dutton, Bill Taylor

• Supervising Sound Editor:

  Beth Sterner

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  David Sosalla, Jonathan Rothbart, Scott Rader, Greg Strause

• Visual Effects:

  BUF Compagnie

• Visual Effects Supervisor:

  Colin Strause, Matthew Gratzner

REVIEW:

• MTV Films' first foray into big-budget sci-fi action was greeted with indifference bordering on hostility, as Aeon Flux failed to translate the expressionistic animation that made the original series a cult favorite, and reaped only 25 million dollars domestically. But this Charlize Theron vehicle actually does succeed in many of its design details. It's possible the tepid response was due to concept overload; on the heels of the Lara Croft movies, the Matrix movies, Catwoman, and Underworld, the "chicks who kick butt" genre was milked dry by late 2005. (Flux's director, Karyn Kusama, is even a veteran of one such film, albeit on a smaller scale -- the 2000 boxing drama Girlfight.) Theron makes a steely addition to the aforementioned list of fightin' females, though some critics found that the actress herself seemed emotionally disengaged, rather than just the character. Either way, she carries off the fight choreography with panache, and looks formidable in her skin-tight black outfit. The future can be hard for production designers to conjure in new ways, but Aeon Flux also deserves credit on that score, with such inventive gadgets as micro-controlled explosive rolling balls, pills that communicate messages when swallowed, and blades of grass that are literally blades. The "rebel force of assassins" plot is pretty played, but the story's cloning focus is timely and resonant. Individual triumphs aside, Aeon Flux seems like a film that never quite coalesced. The character arcs don't resolve in emotionally satisfying ways, and the film ends up feeling sort of underpopulated. More than anything, Aeon Flux again indicates the daunting task facing screenwriters who want to immerse their audience in fantasy worlds. Even if they fall just short of the mark, it can prompt critics to chastise the film as "Theron's Catwoman." ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi