Æon Flux (2005)
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In a dystopian future where humans are clones, a skilled warrior discovers a conspiracy involving the government's leader and her own origins.
The story
In 2415, the remaining five million humans inhabit Bregna, a dystopian walled futuristic city-state ruled by a congress of scientists. While Bregna appears idyllic, people routinely disappear and the population is plagued by nightmares. Æon Flux, a skilled warrior and member of the underground rebel organization known as the Monicans, is sent on a mission to kill the government's leader, Trevor Goodchild. However, during her mission, she discovers that both she and her rebel allies are being manipulated by a cabal of council members working toward a coup d'état, unrelated to the Monicans' goals.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2415, the remaining five million humans inhabit Bregna, a dystopian walled futuristic city-state ruled by a congress of scientists. While Bregna appears idyllic, people routinely disappear and the population is plagued by nightmares. Æon Flux, a skilled warrior and member of the underground rebel organization known as the Monicans, is sent on a mission to kill the government's leader, Trevor Goodchild. During her mission, she discovers that both she and the Monicans are being manipulated by a cabal of council members working toward a coup d'état. Æon learns that everyone in Bregna is a clone grown from recycled DNA because an antidote to a deadly virus made humans infertile. She discovers she is a clone of Trevor's wife, Katherine. She learns that Trevor's brother, Oren, had killed a group of fertile clones to maintain the Goodchild reign. In a final confrontation, Æon goes against both Oren and her former allies. She convinces the other Monicans to help her kill Oren and goes to destroy the Relical, a dirigible storing cloning DNA. There, she meets Keeper, who reveals he preserved Katherine's DNA. The dirigible crashes into the city wall, breaking it down to reveal the surrounding land for the first time in centuries.
- First release year
- 2005
- Runtime (minutes)
- 93
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Karyn Kusama
- Writers
- Phil Hay · screenplay; Matt Manfredi · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Charlize Theron · Æon Flux; Marton Csokas; Jonny Lee Miller; Sophie Okonedo; Pete Postlethwaite; Frances McDormand; Nikolai Kinski
- Genres
- science fiction; action; dystopian
- Themes
- cloning; dystopia; conspiracy; identity
- Tone and mood
- dystopian; action
- Setting
- Bregna, a dystopian walled futuristic city-state in the year 2415.
- Premise and plot tags
- cloning; coup d'état; rebellion; post-apocalyptic
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1990s MTV animated television series created by Peter Chung
- Reception
- The film was poorly received by critics and failed at the box office. It holds a 9% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a weighted average score of 36 on Metacritic. Variety described it as being 'savaged by terrible reviews.'
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 9% · review count: 107; Metacritic · score: 36 · scale: 100 · review count: 23
- Production trivia
- The studio heavily re-edited the film, changing storylines and characters, after Kusama finished it.; The film's production was temporarily suspended for a month in September 2004 while Charlize Theron recovered from a neck injury.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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