Aeon Flux Redux

I was a little surprised when I went through my IFC in Theatres section of my ON Demand and found something entitled Aeon Flux: Redux. I watched the preview. Not only was this a remake of the 2005 theatrical release, but it said it was conceived by the creative genius who wrote XXX: I Pledge Alliegiance and Alpha Dog. I knew that was none other than my personal biographer, Matty the Mainer.

Before I rented the movie, I watched a 10 minute documentary where they interviewed Matty to understand the creative process:

"I thought the original Aeon Flux kind of missed the point of the cartoons. I personally don't remember the plots of any of them. What I did remember was the art. The Plot needs to be secondary... perhaps tertiary."

"I felt the film makers had the wrong inspiration for their film: not Star Wars, but Miami Vice."

"I must admit, when, in the original, they gave the African American woman hands for feet, I felt uncomfortable. It was worse than seeing an Al Jolson in black face, because we should know better."

I had to rent it. He was right, his film had almost no plot to speak of. There wasn't much dialogue either, and when there was, people would say things like "the impeccability of your timing left much to be desired", which, at least to me, made no sense. Much of the film was immersed in this eclectic soundtrack that didn't fit one particular era or decade. One moment he'd use Charlie Parker, the next Tina Turner, or even crazier the Gin Blossoms. He had Didier Drogba in a scene wearing a leather trench coat and leather pants, and he looked really cool.

The backgrounds were all done with computers. One room was all Andy Warhol's Elvis screen prints. Another looked almost identical to Trevor Goodchild's bedroom in the original, but instead of being a bedroom, it was a cafe (with a bed in the middle), and everyone was watching Klaus Kinski films on haphazardy stacked TVs scattered everywhere.