Best Sci-fi Movies on Netflix Right Now (2020)

48. Aeon Flux

Released on: December 2, 2005

Directed by: Karyn Kusama

Written by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi

Starring: Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo

This film was horribly panned at the time of its release because too many people were familiar with the animated source material on MTV (this, of course, was back when MTV created both quality programming and decent music videos — it was a different time, and you had to be there).

Peter Chung, the creator of the original animated series, did his part to excoriate the film, as well, claiming that it was so far from the source material that it “broke his heart,” and finished his excoriation by claiming that the audience wasn’t smart enough to look up the source material.

Ouch!

Much of the criticism came from the fact that Aeon Flux’s relationship with Trevor Goodchild was ret-conned, and completely ignored both the source material and the extant sexual tension between the demagogue and the freedom fighter, and it was always a question of who was really who.

Still, we’re far enough removed from the source material (though this writer remembers it fondly and is, indeed, a fan) that you can enjoy the film on its own merits, and it’s a futurist masterpiece that stars Charlize Theron in the titular role (which, on its own, should make it worth watching).