Æon Flux (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Æon Flux


caption = "Æon Flux" movie poster
director = Karyn Kusama
producer = David Gale
Gregory Goodman
Gale Anne Hurd
Gary Lucchesi
writer = Phil Hay
Matt Manfredi
starring = Charlize Theron
Sophie Okonedo
Marton Csokas
Jonny Lee Miller
Ralph Herforth
Frances McDormand
music = Graeme Revell
cinematography = Stuart Dryburgh
editing = Peter Honess
Plummy Tucker
Jeff Gullo
distributor = Paramount Pictures
Lakeshore Entertainment
released = December 2, 2005
runtime = 93 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget = $62,000,000
gross = $52,304,001
website = http://www.aeonflux.com/
amg_id = 1:304590
imdb_id = 0402022

"Æon Flux" is a 2005 science fiction film released on December 2, 2005. 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.

Plot

The film takes place 408 years into a post-apocalyptic future, after a virus has wiped out ninety-nine percent of the Earth's population in 2011. The survivors inhabit Bregna, a walled city-state, which is ruled by a congress of scientists. Æon Flux is an assassin-member of the 'Monicans', an underground rebel organization who communicate telepathically through use of pills, led by The Handler. After a mission in destroying a surveillance station, Æon comes home to find her sister Una killed, supposedly mistaken for a Monican. When Æon is sent on a mission to kill the government's leader, Trevor Goodchild (Marton Csokas), she discovers that she is unwittingly playing a part in a secret coup. This discovery brings into question the origin and destiny of everyone in Bregna; and in particular, Æon's personal connection to the man she has been sent to assassinate. Ultimately she learns that she is a clone of Goodchild's late wife Cathryn, and that he is in fact trying to save humanity by creating a cure for the disease; which has since died out but in the process has rendered the population sterile. In fact, every newborn child in Bregna is actually a clone created with recycled DNA, with the dead constantly being reborn into new individuals and still bearing parts of the memories of their antecessors. One of Trevor's experiments is successful but Oren Goodchild (Jonny Lee Miller), Trevor's brother, destroys the research in an attempt to stay in power and live forever. However, in a confrontation with Trevor and Æon, Oren reveals that humanity itself has adapted and some people have regained the ability to have babies on their own. Æon is ultimately forced to go up against both her former allies and Oren but she manages to convince the Monicans not to listen to The Handler and take her side to kill Oren and his men. In a final act, Æon prepares to destroy the housing facility where the DNA used for cloning is stored, a dirigible constantly floating in the sky. She meets the old man who monitors the DNA, who was the doctor who preserved her DNA when Oren ordered it destroyed. The subsequent crash breaks the wall surrounding the city and for the first time in centuries the population is able to expand into the outside world.

The film incorporates numerous elements from episodes of the TV series, most notably the episode "A Last Time For Everything," as well as from "Æon Flux: the Herodotus File", a graphic novel that was based upon the series.

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 (writers of teen drama/romance "Crazy/Beautiful" and action – comedy "The Tuxedo"), and directed by Karyn Kusama ("Girlfight"). The character of Æon Flux was played by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron. This film was produced by an MTV Films production. 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, Germany was chosen as the location for filming. This was also appropriate as the original television series also featured a divided city. 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 Trudelturm wind tunnel facility and 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 vets and the government buildings, set in the Berlin animal shelter. ["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 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.

Reception

Criticism

Paramount Pictures chose not to allow critics to review this film until two hours before it opened. As a result, it was impossible for critics to include reviews in the next day's paper, making some critics expect a bad film. Sure enough, the vast majority of reviews were negative while some critics were surprised to change their prior assumptions. [ [http://www.slate.com/id/2130909/ Slate Article pre-release] ] The film took US$13.1 million in its opening weekend.

Peter Chung was cautiously optimistic or evasive in his opinion of the film in early and post-release interviews. In the following month he criticized the movie in an interview. [ [http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/44607.html Peter Chung Interview - Live Journal] ] Phil Hay, one of the scriptwriters for the film, gave a response on the same website. [ [http://community.livejournal.com/monican_spies/45470.html Phil Hay - Live Journal] ] However, producer Gale Anne Hurd described a positive reaction from Peter Chung: [Described in her DVD commentary at 1:06:49] "And this is also when Peter Chung visited the set... and it was great to have him there, and have him feel that Charlize was bringing Æon Flux to life the way that he had envisioned an actor would be able to. And that he thought that the world of Bregna that we had created in the film was what he hoped it would be."

Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi mentioned in an interview on dvdfile.com, [ [http://dvdfile.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5430&Itemid=26 Interview with Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi - DVDFile.com] ] conducted on May 5, 2006, 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. Hay and Manfredi praised Kusama's original version over the theatrically-released film.

Box office

On February 9, 2006, Æon Flux completed its theatrical run, grossing a domestic take of $25,874,337 and a worldwide box office total of $52,304,001. [cite web|title=Box Office Mojo - Theatrical information.|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=aeonflux.htm|accessdate=2008-07-09]

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: 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

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.

DVD release

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. [cite web|title=Box Office Mojo - DVD and home video sales. |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=homevideo&id=aeonflux.htm|accessdate=2006-06-28]

ee also

* List of films recut by studio

References

External links

* [http://www.aeonflux.com/ Official movie website]
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