Æon Flux (film)
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''Æon Flux'' is a 2005 American science fiction action film based on the animated
science fiction action Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
television series of the same name created by
Peter Chung Peter Chung (born April 19, 1961) is a Korean American animator. He is best known for his unique style of animation, as the creator and director of ''Æon Flux'' and '' Reign: The Conqueror (Alexander Senki)''. Early life and career Peter Chung ...
, which aired on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
from 1991 to 1995. It was directed by Karyn Kusama, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, David Gale,
Gary Lucchesi Gary Lucchesi (born January 4, 1955 in San Francisco, California) is an American film producer who is President of Lakeshore Entertainment and past President of The Producers Guild of America. Career Lucchesi began his career at The William M ...
and Greg Goodman. The film was produced by
MTV Films MTV Entertainment Studios is the film and television production arm of MTV Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Founded in 1991 as MTV Productions, it is a consolidation of the former MTV ...
, Lakeshore Entertainment,
Babelsberg Film Studio Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...
and
Valhalla Motion Pictures Valhalla Entertainment Productions, Inc. is an American film and television production company. Their productions include AMC's ''The Walking Dead'' television series, its companion series, '' Fear the Walking Dead,'' and the spin-off, '' The W ...
. It stars
Charlize Theron Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...
as the title character,
Marton Csokas Marton Paul Csokas (, hu, Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a Hungarian-New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with ...
, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Pete Postlethwaite, and Frances McDormand. The film was released on December 2, 2005, by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
in the United States. The film was poorly received by critics and grossed only $52.3 million against a production budget of $55–62 million.


Plot

In 2011, a deadly pathogenic virus killed 99 percent of the Earth's population, forcing the survivors to regroup and scatter across the Earth. Four centuries later, in 2415, the remaining five million humans inhabit Bregna, a
dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n walled futuristic
city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
, which is ruled by a congress of scientists. Although Bregna is largely an idyllic place in the destroyed Earth, people routinely disappear and the population is plagued by nightmares. A skilled warrior, named 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 Trevor Goodchild is a fictional character featured in the 1990s animated television series, ''Æon Flux'', the 2005 ''Æon Flux'' live-action film, and the 2005 ''Æon Flux'' video game. Character overview Chairman Trevor Goodchild is usually see ...
, she discovers that both she and the Monicans are being manipulated by a cabal of council members working towards a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
, unrelated to the goals of the Monicans. Æon questions the origins of everyone in Bregna and in particular, her personal connection to Trevor. Everyone in Bregna is revealed to be a
clone Clone or Clones or Cloning or Cloned or The Clone may refer to: Places * Clones, County Fermanagh * Clones, County Monaghan, a town in Ireland Biology * Clone (B-cell), a lymphocyte clone, the massive presence of which may indicate a pathologi ...
, grown from recycled DNA. With the dead constantly being reborn as new individuals and bearing partial memories of their previous lives, their troubling dreams have increased. Cloning was required because the antidote to the virus made humans infertile. Trevor's ongoing experiments were attempts to reverse the infertility. His preceding clones had all worked on this problem. Æon learns that she is a clone of the original Trevor's wife Katherine and that she is the first "Katherine" clone in over 400 years. Una was one of Trevor's most successful experiments; part of a group of clones that proved to be fertile, with Una having been pregnant when she was killed. However, in order to keep the dynasty of Goodchild clones in power, Trevor's brother, Oren, had Una killed along with the other members of the fertile experimental group. He ordered all of Trevor's research to be destroyed. In a confrontation with Trevor and Æon, Oren reveals that nature has corrected the infertility problem and that some women are becoming pregnant without intervention by scientists. Oren has had them all killed to maintain the Goodchild reign. Æon then goes against both Oren and her former allies, who want to kill Trevor and also kill her for not killing Trevor. Æon convinces the other Monicans tracking her, including her friend Sithandra, to ignore the Handler and to help her kill Oren and his men. Æon goes to destroy the Relical, the
dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...
that stores the DNA for cloning. There she meets Keeper, the old man who monitors everything. She discovers that he preserved Katherine's DNA for years, although an earlier Oren clone had ordered it to be destroyed so "Katherine" could not influence any Trevors. The dirigible crashes into the city wall, breaking it down to reveal the surrounding land for the first time in centuries.


Cast

In addition, Nikolai Kinski and
Yangzom Brauen Yangzom Brauen (born 18 April 1980 in Switzerland) is a Swiss actress, activist and writer. Life and work Brauen, the daughter of Swiss ethnologist Martin Brauen and Tibetan artist Sonam Dolma Brauen, started her acting career with small role ...
appear in the roles of Claudius and Inari, respectively.


Production

The screenplay was written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi based on the animated TV series by
Peter Chung Peter Chung (born April 19, 1961) is a Korean American animator. He is best known for his unique style of animation, as the creator and director of ''Æon Flux'' and '' Reign: The Conqueror (Alexander Senki)''. Early life and career Peter Chung ...
. In the early stages of production, actress
Michelle Rodriguez Mayte Michelle Rodriguez (born July 12, 1978) is an American actress. Rodriguez began her career in 2000, playing a troubled boxer in the independent sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), where she won the Independent Spirit Award and Gotha ...
was considered for the part of Æon. She had previously worked with Kusama in '' Girlfight''. Kusama had originally suggested filming in
Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
, the capital of Brazil, because the 20th-century modern architecture of that city fit with her vision of Bregna. The producers rejected the idea because Brasília lacked the infrastructure and technical expertise to support a major film production. After several cities were scouted,
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
in Germany were chosen for filming. Berlin had several locations that fit into the organic yet structured world of ''Æon Flux''. The crew gained permission to film in several locations that had never allowed such access before, including the Treptow Crematorium, the Adlershof Trudelturm and Windkanal
wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
facility, and the
Haus der Kulturen der Welt The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-European cultures and so ...
("House of the World's Cultures"). Additional locations included the Bauhaus Archive and a dissection theatre built in 1790 to train
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
s, part of the Berlin animal shelter. It was used as the Handler space.''Æon Flux'' DVD, ''The Locations of 'Æon Flux' featurette''. Filming was temporarily suspended for a month during September 2004 while Theron recovered from a neck injury she sustained during stunt-work on the tenth day of shooting. She was hospitalized in Berlin for five days and required about six weeks of
physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...
to recover. Kusama says that after she finished the film, the studio took it away from her and heavily re-edited it, changing storylines and characters, believing that her version was too much of an
art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
.


Release


Box office

Paramount chose not to screen ''Æon Flux'' for critics prior to its release. The film opened at number two at the U.S. box office, making $12,661,112 in its opening weekend, held off the top spot by ''
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and W ...
''. ''Æon Flux'' suffered a decline of 63.97% in box office earnings, going down to number six the following week when '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' and '' King Kong'' were released during the holiday season. 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, making it a write-down and a box office bomb against its $55–62 million budget.


Critical reception

The film holds a 9% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The consensus states, "''Aeon Flux'' lacks the gravity-defying pace of its animated predecessor, and, despite some flash, is largely a dull affair." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
it has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". '' Variety'' said it was "savaged by terrible reviews". Theron said that she had doubts about the project but trusted Kusama, whom she respected. Theron said they "fucked it all up" because they did not know how to execute the concept. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale. Although
Peter Chung Peter Chung (born April 19, 1961) is a Korean American animator. He is best known for his unique style of animation, as the creator and director of ''Æon Flux'' and '' Reign: The Conqueror (Alexander Senki)''. Early life and career Peter Chung ...
was initially optimistic about the film and was impressed with the sets, he ultimately described it as "a travesty," adding: Chung primarily objected to the film's portrayal of Æon and Trevor, and their re-imagined history and relationship. He said, "Ms. Flux does not actually appear in the movie." Screenwriters Hay and Manfredi said in an interview that the film was re-cut by the studio prior to release, but that the original director's cut contains nearly 30 minutes of additional footage, which Chung acknowledged in his criticism.


Music

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


Comic book prequel

In late 2005,
Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...
published a four-issue
comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...
tying in with the movie. The storyline serves as a prequel to the film and is a mixture of Chung's original TV series designs and characters, combined with the setting and story elements of the film; the comic book version of Æon loosely resembles Theron, while her colleague Sithandra, played by a black actress in the film, is depicted as white in the comic book. The first issue sets up 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. By the time the final issue was published, the film had already ended its run in most areas. Dark Horse has not announced whether additional ''Æon Flux''-based comics will be published.


Video game

On November 15, 2005, a video game tie-in prequel of the same name was released in North America for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
and
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
gaming consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
. The game takes place in eras before the film's setting of 2030 to 2338. The likenesses and voices of actors from the film were used. To help add to the box office gross of the film and to sell more games, specially marked copies sold in the US came with a pass to see the ''Æon Flux'' film.Æon Flux game manual


Home media

''Æon Flux'' was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
on April 25, 2006.


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aeon Flux
Film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
2005 films 2005 science fiction action films 2000s dystopian films American science fiction action films 2000s English-language films American dystopian films Films set in the 25th century Films set in the future Films shot in Berlin Girls with guns films Live-action films based on animated series American post-apocalyptic films Lakeshore Entertainment films MTV Films films Paramount Pictures films Films scored by Graeme Revell Films produced by Gary Lucchesi Films directed by Karyn Kusama Films about cloning Babelsberg Studio films Films produced by Gale Anne Hurd Films adapted into comics Superheroine films Films about coups d'état Biopunk films Films with screenplays by Phil Hay (screenwriter) Films with screenplays by Matt Manfredi 2000s American films