out of Five
Running time: 87
The fight scenes are passable, but Ultraviolet is ultimately scuppered by its nonsensical plot, lousy acting, poor effects work and some truly atrocious dialogue.
What's it all about?
Just when you thought Aeon Flux couldn't have been any more rubbish, along comes Ultraviolet to prove you wrong. Milla Jovovich stars as Violet, a 21st century mutant superwarrior dedicated to fighting the forces of dastardly government type, Daxus (Nick Chinlund), who wants to wipe out her kind.
Tasked with retrieving a secret weapon, Violet discovers that the weapon is actually a child in a suitcase (don't ask), played by Cameron Bright (Hollywood's weird kid du jour). So Violet uses her awesome bullet-dodging skill and an array of cool gadgets (Gravity Leveller, anyone?) to take on Daxus and his army of ninjas.
The credits sequence is made up of cool-looking comics’ covers, so it's somewhat disheartening to discover that Ultraviolet isn't actually based on a comic at all. Well, it is in the sense that it's ripping off things like Elektra and Aeon Flux, but that's as far as it goes.
In fact, the film is remarkably similar to Aeon Flux – it has the same basic plot (hot sci-fi chick kicking ass in tight outfits), the same obsession with style over substance, the same atrocious dialogue and the same lack of humour that might have rescued things a bit. Even the posters are similar.
A scene involving a double helicopter take-down is quite exciting, but the rest of the effects work is like a badly made video game crossed with a hair commercial.
The acting is pretty poor. Jovovich can't really handle the limited emotional scenes and it's impossible to take Chinlund seriously because of his character's germ-deflecting nostril guards. The film also wastes William Fichtner in an underwritten part.
Basically, this is only worth seeing if you thought Aeon Flux was the best movie ever made. Otherwise, it's one to avoid.