Those unfamiliar with the MTV cartoon could be forgiven for assuming that Aeon Flux was a nasty medieval rash. Or maybe a bathroom de-scaler.

She is, in fact, a slinky assassin, lithe and lethal, and seeking out those responsible for the apparently motiveless murder of her family.

It's 2415 and mankind has been reduced to a small colony inhabiting a walled utopia called Bregna - think the Teletubby park on crack - after a lethal virus swept the globe.

Ruling this sanitized society is Trevor Goodchild (Lord of the Rings' Marton Csokas), an apparently benign dictator who Aeon blames for the death of her sister.

As a member of the rebel Monicans, she is only too pleased to be despatched by "The Handler" (Frances McDormand with a small ginger hedge on her head) to rub out Goodchild.

However, after breaching the walls of the inner citadel and confronting Trev, something clicks in her mind and she goes all weak-kneed, scuppering the mission.

There's the germ of a good idea here but it's squandered by the po-faced dialogue, the ponderous narrative and a villain rejoicing in the name of Trevor.

Theron struggles to flesh out the character - she's mainly required to do cartwheels while firing heavy weaponry and occasionally look miffed about the untimely demise of the Flux dynasty.

And a potentially intriguing plotline about DNA cloning is never fully explored, director Karyn Kusama preferring to kit her curvy star out in ever more ridiculous leisurewear (tights pulled over your head anyone?).

There is a genuine attempt to make the best of a low budget - most of it looks like it was shot at CenterParcs - but any moolah left over obviously wasn't spent on the script.

By the end, one character is forced to comment: "I've been waiting 400 years for this day. I'm tired." Know just how he feels.

Tim Evans