When the lights came on at the conclusion of “Aeon Flux,” a collective sigh of relief sweeps across the theater. Teary eyed, the guy next to me softly comforts his quivering girlfriend, “It’s OK, it’s all over now.” Another concerned moviegoer rolls his sleeves up, stands at the front of theater and asks, “Listen, is everybody OK?” A little ruffled and shaken, perhaps. We’ve all just witnessed quite possibly the worst film of the year, but yes, we’ve made it through.

Those crafty moguls at Paramount have dumped sci-fi turkey “Aeon-Flux” on an unwitting American public, refusing to allow advance critic screenings so that more of us would waste $8 and two hours going to see it. And it’s easy to see why. “Aeon-Flux” is so bad it makes last year’s “Catwoman” look like “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” The movie is adapted from a short-lived animated series on MTV in the mid-1990s, and Charlize Theron plays the title character, a cold killing machine in spandex, a rebel in an Orwellian dystopia, blowing things up to piss off a totalitarian regime headed by “Trevor” (a name that hardly inspires as much fear and dread as it apparently will in the future).

A virus has killed all but five million people on Earth, and Trevor (Marton Csokas) has provided a cure, saving what was left of mankind and setting himself up as chief of the walled city of Bregna. The city is populated by beautiful people who all dress like they’ve just stepped off a Milan catwalk and move and speak like Jack Nicholson, post lobotomy, in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” People are being “disappeared,” an annoying trait of totalitarian states, and Flux, as a member of terrorist group The Monochins, is assigned to assassinate Trevor. As a bonus, she hopes to avenge the death of her recently disappeared sister.

Inexperienced director Karyn Kusama, whose only other effort, “Girlfight,” caused a sensation at Sundance, though nowhere else, fails to squeeze even the slightest drop of tension out of this dross. Theron, who was apparently contractually obliged to do this film (ah, the old “must do dire sci-fi flick after Oscar triumph” clause) back flips and cartwheels through her performance, clearly taking a break from acting between “Monster” and “North Country.” The incessant drab action sequences are punctuated with prosaic exchanges between characters attempting to fill out an achingly tedious story, giving the viewer a sense that he/she is watching somebody else play a video game. Marton Csokas is far too good looking to be a dictator, looking more at home in Banana Republic than a People’s Republic. Jonny Lee Miller looks lost as Trevor’s younger, more sinister brother Oran, while Pete Postlethwaite and Frances McDormand make bizarre appearances, Postlethwaite dressed in what looks like a giant condom and McDormand, wearing a massive ginger wig, resembling a Bette Midler drag act.

“Aeon Flux” is not even so bad it’s good. It’s just bad. It’s not even worth the time to puzzle over why this was made in the first place and why anybody agreed to be in it. Please, just don’t see this.

directed by Karyn Kusama
written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, with characters by Peter Chung
starring Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Pete Postlethwaite, Frances McDormand
rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and sexual content