"Turning a beloved animated series into live action is always tricky. For every success, there's something like the 2010 film version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a complete calamity. But arguably, the adaptation process gets trickier with source material that edges into the transgressive. So, in 2005, when the 1990s dark, animated cyberpunk series Aeon Flux became a movie starring Charlize Theron, something strange happened."
"Is the 2005 Aeon Flux worth watching today? Yes and no. For fans of The Hunger Games or Divergent, this version of Aeon Flux will feel like a soft predecessor to those more popular soaptopias. But, for fans of the original, this version bore no resemblance to the eponymous heroine of the late-night MTV series that started in 1991. While the original series featured a slightly amoral connection between Aeon and the character Trevor Goodchild,"
"As in the show, there are two city-states, Monica and Bregna, with Bregna being the more metropolitan one, and Monica being the place that's a bit more country. And, like in the show, Aeon is, technically, an agent operating in Bregna, but working for Monica. But the fact that the movie carries this superficial detail over to its basic structure is somewhat meaningless."
The 2005 Aeon Flux film starring Charlize Theron significantly tones down the dark, transgressive elements of the 1990s animated cyberpunk series. The film preserves superficial worldbuilding—two city-states, Bregna and Monica, and Aeon's role as a Monica agent operating in Bregna—but removes much of the series' sexual ambiguity and amoral manipulation. Relationships, especially between Aeon and Trevor Goodchild, become cleaner and less complex. The movie's aesthetic and concept were softened toward mainstream dystopian tropes, resembling later YA franchises such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, which may appeal to new audiences but disappoint original-series fans.
Read at Inverse
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