Æon Flux (film)

Æon Flux
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karyn Kusama
Produced by	David Gale Gregory Goodman Gale Anne Hurd Gary Lucchesi
Written by	Phil Hay Matt Manfredi
Starring	Charlize Theron Sophie Okonedo Marton Csokas Jonny Lee Miller Frances McDormand Amelia Warner
Music by	Graeme Revell
Cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh
Editing by	Peter Honess Plummy Tucker Jeff Gullo
Studio	MTV Films Lakeshore Entertainment Valhalla Motion Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 1, 2005 (2005-12-01) December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) (United States)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$62 million
Box office	$52,304,001

Æon Flux is a 2005 science fiction film directed by Karyn Kusama. The film is a loose adaptation of the animated science fiction television series of the same name, which was created by animator Peter Chung (who had a minor role in this film version of his work) and stars Charlize Theron as the title character. The film was released on December 2, 2005, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

In a post-apocalyptic future, after a virus in 2011 wiped out 99% of the Earth's population, all the survivors inhabit Bregna, a walled city-state, which is ruled by a congress of scientists. Although Bregna is idyllic, people are disappearing and everyone is having bad dreams. Æon Flux is a member of the 'Monicans', an underground rebel organization who communicate through telepathy-enabling technology and are led by The Handler. After a mission to destroy a surveillance station, Æon comes home to find her sister Una has been killed for supposedly being mistaken for a Monican. When Æon is sent on a mission to kill the government's leader, Trevor Goodchild, she discovers that both she and the Monicans are being manipulated by council members in a secret coup.

This discovery causes Æon to question the origin and destiny of everyone in Bregna; and in particular, her own personal connection to Trevor. It turns out that every person in Bregna is actually a clone, grown from recycled DNA. With the dead constantly being reborn into new individuals and still bearing partial memories of their previous lives, there has been an increase in the populace's troubling dreams. Recycling and cloning became necessary since the original virus antidote made humans infertile. Trevor's experiments, and of all his clone ancestors, have been trying to reverse the infertility. Æon learns that she is a clone of the original Trevor's wife, Katherine and is the first Katherine clone in over 400 years.

One of Trevor's experiments, Una, had been successful as she was pregnant. However, Oren Goodchild, Trevor's brother, had her killed and had Trevor's research destroyed so he could stay in power forever through his clones. In a confrontation with Trevor and Æon, Oren reveals that humanity itself has corrected the problem and that some women were becoming naturally pregnant. Oren had them all killed to maintain the Goodchild reign. Æon is now forced to go up against both her former allies, who want to kill Trevor, and Oren.

She manages to convince the other Monicans to ignore The Handler and help her instead to kill Oren and his men. Æon goes to destroy the facility where the cloning DNA is stored - The Relicle, a dirigible constantly floating in the sky. There she meets the old man who monitors everything. She also discovers he preserved her DNA for years, even though Oren ordered it to be destroyed so Katherine could not influence Trevor in any way. The dirigible crashes into the city wall breaking it down to reveal, for the first time in centuries, a lush and fertile land as opposed to the wasteland they were taught about.

Cast

• Charlize Theron as Æon Flux
• Marton Csokas as Trevor Goodchild
• Jonny Lee Miller as Oren Goodchild
• Sophie Okonedo as Sithandra
• Ralph Herforth as Gardenar
• Frances McDormand as Handler
• Pete Postlethwaite as Keeper
• Amelia Warner as Una Flux
• Caroline Chikezie as Freya
• Nikolai Kinski as Claudius
• Paterson Joseph as Giroux
• Yangzom Brauen as Inari

Production

The screenplay was written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, and directed by Karyn Kusama. The character of Æon Flux was played by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron. This film was produced by MTV Films. It is unusual for an MTV Films production in that it is an action film.

In the early stages of production, actress Michelle Rodriguez was considered for the part of Æon. This was perhaps due to her previous partnership with director Kusama in Girlfight.

Karyn Kusama had originally suggested filming in Brasília, Brazil, because the architecture of that city fit with her vision of Bregna. The idea was rejected because Brasília lacked the infrastructure and technical expertise to facilitate a major film production. After scouting several cities around the world, Berlin and Potsdam in Germany were chosen as the location for filming. Berlin had several locations that fit into the organic yet structured world of Æon Flux. The crew was able to gain access to several locations that had never allowed filming before including the Treptow Crematorium, the Adlershof Trudelturm and Windkanal wind tunnel facility as well as the Haus der Kulturen der Welt ("House of the World's Cultures"). Additional locations include the handler space, a dissection theatre built in 1790 to train veterinarians, set in the Berlin animal shelter.

Filming was temporarily suspended for a month during September 2004 while Theron recovered from a neck injury she suffered during stunt-work on the tenth day of shooting while performing a back handspring. She was hospitalized in Berlin for five days and it took about six weeks of physiotherapy to recover.

Release and reaction

Paramount Pictures chose not to screen Æon Flux for critics prior to its release. The film opened at No. 2 at the U.S. Box office making $12,661,112 USD in its opening weekend, held off the top spot by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Aeon Flux suffered a decline of 63.97% in box office earnings, going down to No. 6 the following week. On February 9, 2006, it completed its theatrical run, grossing a domestic take of $25,874,337 and a worldwide box office total of $52,304,001. Critical reaction was mainly negative. The film holds a 10% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus stating "Aeon Flux lacks the gravity-defying pace of its animated predecessor, and, despite some flash, is largely a dull affair.", and a score of 36 out of 100 on Metacritic. The film was considered a financial failure as the film's earnings were lower than its $62 million budget.

Although Peter Chung was optimistic about the film and was impressed with the sets upon visiting the production, he ultimately described it as "a travesty," adding: "I was unhappy when I read the script four years ago; seeing it projected larger than life in a crowded theatre made me feel helpless, humiliated and sad. ... They claim to love the original version; yet they do not extend that faith to their audience. No, they will soften it for the public, which isn't hip enough to appreciate the raw, pure, unadulterated source like they do." Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi claimed in an interview that the film was re-cut by the studio prior to release and that original director's cut contains nearly 30 minutes of additional footage, which Chung acknowledged in his criticism of the film.

Music

Æon Flux - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by Graeme Revell
Released	April 13, 2010
Genre	Film score
Length	48 Minutes
Label	Varèse Sarabande

New Zealander Graeme Revell composed the score for Æon Flux; the soundtrack is available via Varèse Sarabande as advertised on the film's official website

Æon Flux - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Bregna 2415"	4:47
2.	"The Panopticon"	2:33
3.	"Una Flux"	1:13
4.	"Torture Garden"	2:40
5.	"Monican Mission"	1:14
6.	""Good Boys""	2:40
7.	"The Kiss"	3:18
8.	"The Relical And Keeper"	4:22
9.	"Cloning Discovery"	5:15
10.	"Grenade!/Monorail Chase"	3:49
11.	""I Remember""	1:38
12.	"The Cherry Orchard"	3:51
13.	"Oren Goodchild Dies"	3:42
14.	"Destroying The Memories"	4:04
15.	"Æon Flux"	3:34

Comic book prequel

In late 2005, Dark Horse Comics published a four-issue comic book limited series tying in with the movie. The storyline serves as a prequel to the film and is a mixture of Peter Chung's original TV series designs and characters combined with the setting and story elements of the movie. (There are some alterations: the comic book version of Æon only loosely resembles Theron, while her colleague Sithandra, played by a black actress in the film, is depicted as a caucasian in the comic book). The first issue sets up Æon Flux's mission for the miniseries: sabotage the Bregnan government's plan to destroy the forest outside of Bregna's walls. The last two issues of the limited series were published after the film had been released, and by the time the final issue came out, the film had already ended its run in most areas. Dark Horse has not announced if any further Æon Flux-based comics will be published.

Video game

Main article: Æon Flux (video game)

On November 15, 2005, a video game adaptation of the same name was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox gaming consoles.

Home media

Æon Flux was released on DVD on April 25, 2006. As of July 16, 2006, the DVD has grossed $31.80 million in rental sales.

External links

• Official website
• Æon Flux at the Internet Movie Database
• Æon Flux at AllRovi
• Æon Flux at Box Office Mojo
• Æon Flux at Rotten Tomatoes