Children of Men Movie Review

Tonight I went and saw Children of Men, the new movie starring Clive Owen and directed by Alfonso Cuaron. The setting is 2027 in a time when an infertility epidemic is wiping out the human civilization. I'm just going to jump right into it, but I'm going to warn you, this post contains spoilers. So much I want to say!

From the very beginning of this movie we are thrown into this new world plagued with chaos. The opening scene, which I thought was absolutely brilliant, sets the stage perfectly. A saddened mass huddles inside a coffee shop, eyes glued to a television monitor, watching the news report that the youngest person on the planet was killed. First of all, the way the camera angle shows the people looking and also creeps the bottom of a second television into the shot, allowing the audience to briefly see the murder of the young man, is great. Secondly, the man was murdered. He didn't die of birth defects or anything natural, but was murdered, which immediately focuses our attention on the chaotic world they are living in. As Clive Owen walks into the coffee shop, through the crowd, and orders himself a coffee as if nothing is going on, we are immediately introduced to his character. That's all you need to know about him the whole movie. Then, when he is outside, both him pouring whiskey into his coffee and the explosion that follows finalize our assumptions of both his character and the state of things. All we needed in about 1 minute. I thought it was absolutely perfect.

My likes: I thought this movie was shot exceptionally well, expressing scale and emotion very harmoniously, whether large scale or small, low emotion or high, everything was perfect. I thought the direction in that sense was great. I thought Clive Owen's character was a good contrast to every other character in the movie, no matter the side they were on or what role they played, but they were all so outwardly caught up in things, and he always seemed distant, and it was a great contrast. The music was good, very eclectic and very well done. I thought the subtle motifs and metaphors were great, such as the girl sitting on the swing set singing as the other two are in the torn up classroom talking about the end of the world. It showed her innocence and her purity, just like the child inside of her. Another thing I liked was the comic relief. It was so perfectly timed so consistently, especially the line Clive Owen gives at the end; the "Been a rough day, huh?" line. It was great. I'm not sure a better line could have been used. On that note, I thought the movie did an especially fantastic job humanizing everything. The dialogue like that just mentioned, along with the way Clive Owen wore sandles, and the way the animals were portrayed, and all those types of things were amazing. They allowed the director to portray these people as true saviors, but humanize them to the regular people we've been following the whole movie. I loved the way the movie was real when it counted, such as the explosions and the child birth, and the desperation killing of the two cops. And what action there was really jumped off the screen. Did you see that motorcycle crash? It was amazing. The final thing I want to say in the likes category is about a scene. I think that one of the greatest scenes I have ever seen on film was when Clive Owen was up in that building rescuing Kee and the baby, and they were on the floor for a while after an explosion. When they got up, and everything was quiet except the baby crying, and everyone suddenly realized what they were hearing. The embodiment of hope and future. As they walked down the stairs, and the troops began to notice, and everything stopped, and some even got down on their knees to thank God. It was one of the best scenes I have ever seen. And it was capped off by an explosion which sent everything back into motion. Amazing.

Ok, the dislikes: I thought many of the characters were boring. Aside from Syd, Jasper, and on occasion Theo, everyone else was kind of boring. You could probably call that humanizing too, but I thought them pretty lackluster. I also thought that Julianne Moore's character was awful, and the forced relationship between herself and Theo was even worse. It would have been better if they just hated each other. Also, the sequence when Theo went to get the papers from his friend in his big old house, why was that in there? The stage had already been set beautifully in the first minute, why ruin it with 5 minutes of crap that doesn't have any relevance except to further set the stage? And the son? That's when I really noticed that this movie was based on a book. I think the screenplay did a mediocre job adapting the book to film, and I haven't even read the book, so that's pretty bad.

Other than those things though, I really liked this movie. I'm sure I left a lot of things out, and I want to see this movie again so I can remember them all, but in any case the "likes" far outweigh the "dislikes", that's for sure. On the Reganometer, I'm going to give this movie a 9 out of 10, and say go see it for sure, even if you think Clive Owen can't act. Ahem, Cody. Anyways, SEE IT!