AEon (pronounced 'E-On') is a rebel assassin known as a Monican attempting to overthrow the government. The world is anything but usual. A virus has killed 99% of the global population at the start of the 21st century, and 400 hundred years on, the city of Bregna is the last remaining habitat on Earth.

It's only now that AEon is asked to kill the chairman of the governing body, a feat she has been waiting for since the mysterious death of her sister Una, however, when AEon realises she somehow knows chairman Goodchild from a past experience, can she bring herself to kill him and more importantly, can she start to uncover the whole truth to the situation and somehow save Bregna?

AEon is played by Charlize Theron fresh off the back of her 'North Country' Oscar nomination. AEon is somewhat of a deliberately confused character, torn between the love for her sister and the ruthless job that she retains. After her sibling's death in the earlier stages of the film AEon starts to look more complex and bewildered with life. Theron plays the part fine to be honest, and while she doesn't bring any real form of emotion to the part it doesn't appear to matter as the role simply doesn't need it.

Chairman Goodchild, who AEon realises she knows from somewhere is played by Marton Csokas, but it isn't a role to suit what is clearly good, potential acting talent. Goodchild is pathetically see-through, and the part never seems evil enough at the start for you to believe any of the forthcoming plot-twists. Support acting is comes in the form of Jonny Lee Miller and a disastrous and totally unneeded cameo by Pete Postlewaite.

The problem with the characters stems (as with the rest of the film's flaws) back to the writing of the script. At times it seems like a rehash of a Matrix/Star Wars draft, and it ain't a good thing. The narrative is poor and you never get any feeling of realism in the parts, simply for the fact that what people are saying on screen is annoyingly scripted; it all seems like they're reading a play, not talking to each other. Like I say it, would be easy to levy this problem at the acting, but it simply isn't the case. Theron and Csokas are overall very good, it's simply the writing that lets each respective part down.

Apart from this AEon Flux isn't a disastrously bad movie, the idea and plot is very derivative; a story about a post-apocalyptic future world all seems very Logan's Run, but in all fairness it never lets the film down. Again the music, the CGI and the directing are all very good, if for the simple reality that all three are slightly imaginative.

And that's surely the weirdest thing about AEon Flux, at times it seems as unoriginal as it is unrealistic, but then with one last gasp it manages to throw some kind of innovation or creativity right back at you, just as you were stepping away. Derivative, clichéd and even annoying at times, AEon Flux would be a utterly woeful movie, if it wasn't saved by some decent acting and some sharp directing by the potentially huge Karyn Kusama.

3/10 Bad - but with 'signs' of a decent film and the makings of a possibly excellent director...

The AEon Flux movie and the original AEon Flux animated series upon which it was based are available to buy from Amazon.co.uk