Children of Men

Children of Men

Sometimes, there are films that come along shock you how good they are, when you knew nothing about them. Children of Men is one of those movies. I vaguely remember the trailer that didn’t really make want to see the movie. I found myself disinterested in the trailer. Well, I can say that I found the movie both entertaining and insightful at the same time. This film is another reason why sci-fi is one of the better types of mediums out there today.

Children of Men starts out a little slow and a little dull, but by the second half of the film, you’ll be on the edge of your seat. The movie paints a bleak picture of the future, a future where the human race can no longer have children. So, the whole race is slowly dying without any children to sustain the population. In Britain, there is a strong anti-immigration enforcement where people who are not British are rounded up and put in broken down camps. The film shows such a dark and mean world that one has to wonder if the heroes in this movie will ever make it through. Yet, there is hope. One of the immigrants, an African woman, is found to be pregnant.

Clive Owen’s character is put in charge of protecting her and letting her get to some scientists willing to help. However, the British government and an extremist rebel group want to get their hands on her first. Owen does a superb job as an everyman stuck in the middle of a bigger growing conflict, with the sinister Chiwetel Ejiofor on his trail.

Director Alfonso Cuarón (of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban fame) does a stand up job conveying the harshness of city warfare. He created a huge battle within one of the camps between the population and the UK troops in one complete take. Trust me, you’ll want to see this moment. The images are violent, and they will remind you of what is currently happening in Iraq.

The movie is very dark and bleak, but it does have a positive message in the end, and will make you think about our current situations around the world. This is one the reason Sci-fi can get away with this sort of thing.

Grade A-Owen: “Weren’t you in Boogie Nights naked?”

Julianne Moore: “Well Excuse me, Mr. BMW guy.”

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Alfred Pennyworth: Why do we fall, sir? So that we might better learn to pick ourselves up.

Owen: Wrong movie