Aeon Flux

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Aeon Flux's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Aeon Flux completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 14 March 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

Aeon Flux is based on the MTV animated episodes of the 1990s. While the film contains some entertaining comic book action scenes, the movie as a whole is unlikely to appeal to a wider adult audience. The plot and the world Aeon lives in is unbelievable and tends to drag on. Fans of the MTV animated episodes, primarily designed for an adult audience, are likely to be disappointed.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Aeon Flux contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Set in the year 2415, the film follows the exploits of Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron), a super hero assassin, who is a rebel operative working for a resistance group called the Monicans, in the overly policed state society of Bregna. The Handler (Frances McDormand), leader of the Monicans, orders Aeon and her four handed friend/fellow operative Sithandra (Sophie Okonedo) to assassinate Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas) who has ruled the city for the last 400 years with his brother Oren (Jonny Lee Miller).

As the film unfolds it is revealed that Oren Goodchild wants his brother's job as Chairman, and has manipulated the Monicans into assigning Aeon to kill Trevor. But when the assassination fails, Oren instigates a coup resulting in Trevor becoming a hunted criminal, while Aeon is seen as a turncoat and is hunted by the Monicans. After being chased by both sides all over Bregna, Trevor reveals that the citizens of Bregna are all clones, a necessity resulting from the original citizen being sterile. However, it seems that nature itself has taken a hand and that the citizens of Bregna are now becoming fertile. Oren on the other hand wants to live forever through cloning and will commit as many murders as necessary do ensure that the population remains infertile.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

Aeon Flux contains a number of comic book style sequences of stylised violence; a few of which contain mild levels of blood and gore. Examples of violent scenes include:

• Aeon throws projectile-like weapons into the backs of guards' heads.
• Aeon back-flips her way across a garden defence system containing poisonous projectile spewing trees, and blades of grass that turned into lethal spikes.
• Aeon breaks the necks of Bregna guards between her thighs and feet.
• Aeon holds a gun to Trevor's throat.
• Aeon strangles Trevor to unconsciousness.
• Aeon engages in a brutal fight with a female Bregna operative. The Bregna operative shoots long spike-like projectiles at Aeon, and they punch and kick each other in the head and body, throwing each other against walls. Aeon throws the Bregna operative on to a bench top where she is impaled in the back with metal tubes.
• Aeon slowly rips an earring from the ear of the Bregna operative (as though pulling a pin from a hand grenade).
• Aeon and Sithandra engage in a brutal fist and foot fight involving kicks to the head and body.
• Aeon shoots a guard through his helmet visor, and stabs a number of other guards in the face and body with a dagger-like shard of glass.
• Aeon blows up sections of flooring and wall with guards flying in all directions.
• Innocent civilians are shot in a train by machinegun wielding Bregna guards.
• Aeon pushes her fingers into Trevor's bloody flesh to extract bullets
• A vicious brutal firefight between Aeon, Trevor, Oren, Sithandra, Bregna guards and Monican operatives results in many violent deaths

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Most of the above mentioned violent scenes have the potential to scare or disturb on children under the age of eight, particularly the more brutal and graphic acts of violence, such as:

• buildings exploding
• Aeon using a shard of glass to slash throats and stab necks (these scenes involved some blood and gore)
• Aeon pushing her fingers into Trevor's bloody flesh to extract bullets.
• Younger children could also be disturbed by the scenes in which Aeon Flux is in life threatening danger, including:
• her face hovers millimetres above steel spikes embedded in blades of grass
• she dangles from a blimp-like aircraft hundreds of metres above the ground.

While there are few scary or grotesque images in this movie, Sithandra had been “altered” to have hands attached to the bottom of her legs instead of feet. Younger children may be scared or disturbed by the images of this four handed woman.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Children aged eight to thirteen could still feel scared or threatened by Aeon Flux 's level of violence, which at times is quite brutal and contains some blood and gore. Although children closer to the age of thirteen years will be more able to understand the comic book style of the violence, could still be negatively influenced by it.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Children over the age of thirteen years will be capable of understanding the comic book nature of the violence in Aeon Flux , and as a result not be scared by the images. However some of the more brutal images could still have a negative influence on behaviour; specifically younger adolescent males.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in this movie.

Nudity and sexual activity

Aeon Flux contains some partial nudity and one scene containing mild suggestive sexual activity:

• Aeon gets up from her bed wearing revealing black lingerie with sheer shoulder to waist bra straps leaving both the outer and inner sides of her breasts exposed, and sheer bikini-like lace briefs.
• throughout the film Aeon wears body hugging black or white leather suits
• Aeon passionately and almost violently kisses Trevor on the mouth. She later wakes up in bed with him. Shortly after awakening, Aeon becomes violent towards Trevor, straddling his waist and strangling him to unconsciousness.

Use of substances

There is no alcohol or recreational drug usage. However, Aeon takes a pill enabling her to communicate telepathically with The Handler. During one of these communication sessions, a Poppy like flower grows from the mouth of The Handler releasing a pollen-like substance, which embeds into Aeon's face.

Coarse language

There is no coarse language in this movie.

The movie's message

The main messages of Aeon Flux are about the resistance movement against an oppressive regime and the ethical battle surrounding cloning technology.

Values parents may wish to encourage are perseverance and endurance, and Aeon's ability to enlist others to see the greater good.

This movie could give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the problems in real life with using violence to solve conflict. Parents may also wish to discuss how the film's female heroes are portrayed as sexual objects and the impact such images can have on adolescent viewers, both male and female.