Æon Flux (film)

Æon Flux
File:Aeon flux poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Karyn Kusama
Written by	Phil Hay Matt Manfredi
Produced by	David Gale Gregory Goodman Gale Anne Hurd Gary Lucchesi
Starring	Charlize Theron Sophie Okonedo Marton Csokas Jonny Lee Miller Frances McDormand Pete Postlethwaite
Cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh
Edited by	Peter Honess Plummy Tucker Jeff Gullo
Music by	Graeme Revell
Production companies	MTV Films Lakeshore Entertainment Valhalla Motion Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	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 action 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

The year is 2415. In 2011 a virus wiped out 99% of the Earth's population. Now all of the survivors inhabit Bregna, a walled city-state, which is ruled by a congress of scientists. Although Bregna is largely idyllic, people are routinely disappearing and everyone is suffering from 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 mistaken for a Monican and killed. 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 origins of everyone in Bregna, and in particular, her own personal connection to Trevor. It turns out that everyone 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 troubling dreams. Recycling and cloning became necessary because the antidote to the virus made humans infertile. Trevor's ongoing experiments, as with all his clone ancestors, were attempts at reversing the infertility. Æon learns also 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, was successful: she had become pregnant. However, in order to stay in power, Trevor's brother, Oren Goodchild, had her killed along with the other members of the experimental group, and ordered all of Trevor's research to be destroyed. In a confrontation with Trevor and Æon, Oren reveals that nature itself has corrected the infertility problem and that some women are becoming naturally pregnant. Oren has 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 the surrounding land for the first time in centuries. It is lush and fertile, not a wasteland as they were taught.

Cast

• Charlize Theron as Æon Flux
• Marton Csokas as Trevor Goodchild
• Jonny Lee Miller as Oren Goodchild
• Sophie Okonedo as Sithandra
• Frances McDormand as Handler
• Pete Postlethwaite as Keeper
• Amelia Warner as Una Flux
• Ralph Herforth as Gardenar
• 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 Bauhaus Archive and 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

Box office

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, failing to recoup its $62 million budget.

Critical reception

The critical reception 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." With a score of 36 out of 100, the film's reception is rated 'Generally unfavorable' on Metacritic.

Although Peter Chung was initially 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. ...[The movie's creators] 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." Chung has described his primary objection to the film as being its portrayal of the Æon and Trevor characters and their re-imagined history and relationship. He has gone so far as to state, "Ms. Flux does not actually appear in the movie."

Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi asserted 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

Untitled

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 IMDb
• Æon Flux at AllMovie
• Æon Flux at Box Office Mojo
• Æon Flux at Rotten Tomatoes