Aeon Flux is…different, in a disjointed, MTV-music video meets futuristic sci-fi sort of way. The action is fast, the dialogue isn’t smooth, and even after the feature length movie, you’re only slightly more informed than you were before. But the truth is out there, and in her, and our heroine (played in traditional garb by Charlize Theron) is out to find it.

Basically, Aeon Flux is about self-discovery. We’re provided a brief background of the world as we know it by Aeon herself, but she’s only half-informed about what really takes place. Spoiler: In a cataclysmic plague, the world’s population gets minced but one scientist, Trevor Goodchild (Csokas) has worked out a way to ‘reincarnate’ people mechanically. When person A dies, their clone is developed from their DNA and is implanted in the womb of a woman so that she delivers a child who will grow up to be person A again. Goodchild’s moral code begins to challenge his own actions, but his brother, Oren (Miller), refuses to let go of his continuous cycle.

The build-up to the actual ‘plot’ takes awhile and we’re left staring at Theron for most of the first third of the movie. As the intrigue and side stories grow, we’re sure that the confrontation between Aeon (who we accept as ‘good’) and her opponents will be action-packed. McDormand and Postlethwaite provide interesting bit parts that are a far cry from their ‘Oscar-worthy’ films.

Like A Sound of Thunder, which few moviegoers actually saw, shows the consequences of messing with the natural order, or playing God. Unlike Thunder, Aeon Flux has the benefit of a cult following through its place in MTV’s Liquid Television. While Thunder played more like a vindictive Planet of the Apes, Flux shows the choices that people with knowledge make: sometimes they use their power for good, sometimes they seek only their own benefit.

What could be simply science fiction and leather-bound heroines, turns into an exploration of choices and the justifications that we make to achieve what we want. Aeon Flux proves to be worthy of her role because she shows those who are apathetic and afraid that they must make choices to better humanity, even at a cost to themselves. Because Aeon is willing to sacrifice herself, others show that they are willing to join her, but she had to liberate them from their doubt and apathy first.

Aeon Flux isn’t going to win an Oscar but it’s entertaining and to some degree, thought-provoking. What would you do if you knew the truth? What choices would you make if those choices might hurt? The truth shall set you free…that has a certain ring to it.