Coming Soon To A Theater Near You
Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux. I don't usually get into movies before they're released (though I am holding back my absolute lust for Kate Beckinsale in the new UnderWorld movie - any movie that costumes her in tight leather is on my "must see" list even if it's dreadful crap) but ads for AF are now on TV. I watched the online trailer a few weeks ago only to be struck by a few things. First, Charlize Theron looks drop-dead gorgeous in short black hair. She'd probably look amazing with a shaved head but the change from her usual mane of gold is pretty dramatic. And it's an action adventure flick with many guy things like explosions so I'm deciding beforehand that it's worth a visit to the local ManyPlex The8er.
But I am still left with a problem. The killer chick problem. From some of the action sequences I've seen, we have the real world difficulty of the character standing in one place firing an automatic weapon as she turns, shooting guards off a wall. Excuse me? Do we always have to have every minion of the bad guys be so utterly incompetent that they can't shoot a more-or-less stationary target that is mowing them down? This movie idiocy is applied to male characters sometimes but ever since Xena aired, we have the phenomenon of the woman "warrior" who is never defeated in a physical fight. Oh bullflop. I don't care if it is fantasy.
It takes but a little more imagination to put these killer chicks in positions where they can effect all the killing, all the ass-kicking they need but still retain some semblance of logic. Like, firing from cover instead of a stationary, exposed spot. If the evil minions are incompetent weeds, it considerably reduces the menace of the bad guys. Let's face it: the storm troopers in "Star Wars" are a bunch of idiots. They have to gather in overwhelming numbers before they are a threat while a Darth Vader needs no one else around to be massively threatening.

I don't object to killer chicks in the flicks. I dig the action babes (OK, more Renee O'Connor than Lucy Lawless) but for the sake of good movie-making, please spare me from the woman who can beat up on every man that attacks her. It's nonsense. So, am I going to see "Aeon Flux?" Damn skippy.