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I have returned as resident Aeon Flux icon-girl to say that this may not tank; but it will fail, miserably, at being anything related in essence to the Original. They can take the title and the story line and mess it about but it still won't be nearly as successful as the Matrix, which honestly, Aeon Flux could aspire to, at least the first in the series (the first Matrix flick being the best, and most representative of what I want to see AF become).
She is such a hidden cult figure that if they unearthed her properly she could blow a hole right into the hearts of unsuspecting sci-fi/techie/blockbuster viewees and start a whole new revolution. A whole bunch of new victims would run around besotted wondering where she came from, how come they never heard of her, and begin demanding the revival of her series, her dvds, etc., etc.
But no. They're doing it wrong. Peter Chung has nothing to do with the film; the choice of Charlize for this role is painful beyond belief (for goodness sakes, use Carrie-Anne Moss and I can deal); it's live action (you're always risking big trouble when you take animation/comic book roots and turn them live and DANGIT the original artist is STILL LIVING! it's not like he's dead! he's still making animation! he made Dark Fury!); from what I've seen on the movie site the director is going for pretty visuals rather than focusing on the grit of the story.
The original made a point of making suffering BEAUTIFUL. You found beauty despite the suffering and changed future; you found horrific scenes and missing morals fascinatingly creepy! The whole point was odd, creepy, beautiful!
As a supporter of the original series that began as voiceless animated shorts on Liquid Television on MTV, I'm very very tense and very very worried. They didn't even make Trevor Goodchild blonde, and what's a simple hair coloring going to cost them? Good golly. He's not warmly handsome like their choice! He's cuttingly pale, frighteningly lithe, perverted and snaky! He oozes, and not in a good way. But that's why he's so GOOD!
There was even a tagline for the movie that implied Aeon once had a family and people she loved and now she's lost it all and focuses on a mission. Sacrilege! The point of Aeon is she is an unapologetic force and she is happily, vocally, unabashedly selfish, violent, sadistic, and will show compassion only when she feels like it. Her mission is her self; she serves who she chooses when she chooses and may or may not let you live depending on how the chips fall.
She is hard, sharp, angular, skinny, and cool. She is not pouty-mouthed, soft-faced, and rounded. I'm not saying Charlize is too fat for the role (I'm a big girl, fat is not the issue); I'm saying Aeon looks emaciated for a reason, and that is a part of the very core of her character. She is lean in every sense of the word, emotionally and morally. And show was the whole fricken show.
What I liked about the Carrie-Ann pick for the Matrix is you knew it wasn't a popularity-sell. They didn't stick her in there because she'd sell tickets. They stuck her in there because she made sense and did her job, and did it well. She added value, underscored meaning.
Charlize is just not right for the role. Unless her acting can make me forget she looks and moves nothing like my pointy-spidery-creepy-heroine friend, I'm just not going to be able to buy her. Top that off with the clear choice by the makers to diss the essence of the scenery and turn it into clean sinuous lines and striking color contrasts.
No no no, I say. I'm tearing out my hair here. Ugh.
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life without movies is like cereal without milk. possible, but disgusting. but not nearly as bad as cereal with water. don't lie. I know you've done it.
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