Starring Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand. Rated PG. For showtimes, please see page 89

Movies can sometimes benefit from lowered expectations. Aeon Flux, already famous for having its word-of-mouth screenings at 10 p.m. the night before it opened, found itself with a Catwoman reputation by Friday. The film is an incoherent mess, and it's indisputably a lame way for Charlize Theron to follow up her Oscar-baiting run of Monster and North Country.

On the other hand, a gal needs more than gold statuettes, and audiences can enjoy films that have nothing serious to say. The fact is that this futuristic romp is really good to look at and sometimes that's enough. Set four centuries from now, it takes place in a city-state containing the only survivors of a worldwide plague.

The humans have maintained a walled-in foothold thanks to the brilliance of a scientist called Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas) who has come up with cloning techniques that, from the sampling we get, seem to weed out everyone who isn't young and svelte-which may be why those seeming Praetorian Guards are posted everywhere. We are told that there is a growing movement of rebels called Monicans, which I took to be a tribute to Monica Lewinski and other fat chicks who know how to have fun.

We also have some interesting fashion developments to look forward to: the sleepwear is particularly fetching, and in the future, everyone will base their hairstyles on old Helmut Newton photos. (Everyone, that is, except Frances McDormand, who plays a Bride of Frankenstein-like leader.) Theron's title character sports sleek S?&?M gear, which, oddly, doesn't tip off anyone that she's a top assassin for the Monicans. Occasionally, she is joined by another killer (Hotel Rwanda's Sophie Okonedo) who has four hands, giving her an unfair advantage in Frisbee competitions. Of course, much more is at stake, what with the cloning, the rebellion, and the abolition of iPods. Hey, I told you the plot wasn't worth thinking about. Certainly, director Karyn Kusama, far away from her Girlfight turf, didn't have much say in the story, which devolves into a big gunfight in the end.

What really kills here is the lensing and production design, from Stuart Dryburgh and Andrew McAlpine, Brits who both worked on The Piano. The movie, which was shot in Germany, doesn't look much like the Peter Chung cartoons on which it is loosely based. But I don't watch MTV or read manga, so this stuff was new to me. Sometimes ignorance is at least related to bliss.