gradyharp
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I put this DVD in my home theater with surround-sound and must admit that the last 20 minutes of this movie, I literally felt transported into the screen. The effects are that good as well as frightening. The scene called "ceasefire" was gut-wrenchingly poignant. Now to the movie. It was pretty good though not as great as the critics seemed to say. The plot was a little difficult to understand. It appears that Britain in this wacky future world is the only "intact" country remaining after world-wide anarchy has taken place over mankind's inability to reproduce. Even Britain itself is a hornets nest of pitched battles itself with more chaos than what is going on in Iraq. The government seems to have been cracking down on "illegal" aliens; hunting them down.
+3
Julanne Moore is the rebel leader and she is gunned down rather early in the movie. The other rebels are harboring an alien who is pregnant. Clive Owen's character overhears the rebels plotting to kill him and the woman after she gives birth. This causes him to flee with the pregnant woman and go into hiding.
I should mention that Owen gives another great performance as well as Michael Caine, who is an aged Woodstock-type hippie.
The ending leaves the viewer with some hope that better things should come, and leaves the movie open for a possible sequel.
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More Children of Men reviews
review by RowanK.
December 02, 2009
Apparently I love Alfonso Cuaron, who directed both this and Y Tu Mama Tambien (as well as the third Harry Potter film). And, in many ways, I like both films for similar reasons: they work on the superficial genre level as well as on deeper intellectual and symbolic levels. Children of Men is an effective science fiction action movie as well as a stellar vision of dystopia, while also serving as religious metaphor, warning of fascism, and the old adage to beware becoming your enemy in order to defeat … more
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At first, this film seemed to be a sci-fi film noire in the mold of Blade Runner. It portrays a dystopian society in which women lack fertility. Indeed, unlike a lot of sci-fi films nowadays, "Children of Men" does not shy away from making dystopia realistic and grisly. Key characters are killed suddenly, the color palate is mainly grey, and all of the key characters have traits that make them less than admirable. In one chilling scene, an important character is last shown being taken away by troops … more
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review by MichaelN.
March 06, 2009
I put this DVD in my home theater with surround-sound and must admit that the last 20 minutes of this movie, I literally felt transported into the screen. The effects are that good as well as frightening. The scene called "ceasefire" was gut-wrenchingly poignant. Now to the movie. It was pretty good though not as great as the critics seemed to say. The plot was a little difficult to understand. It appears that Britain in this wacky future world is the only "intact" country remaining after world-wide … more
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review by arichards.
November 17, 2008
Y2K twenty seven The world is a mess How things got this bad Is anyone's guess Nations are divided By fighting and hate But Britain still stands, A dystopian state Women are infertile No patter of feet Policemen hunt refugees Right in the street Clive Owen is brilliant Perfect for the role Entangled … more
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review by katknit.
January 09, 2008
Children of Men is one of those rare apocalyptic movies that stimulates apprehension from the first frame. I can't say that watching it was an enjoyable or entertaining experience for me. It sets up a depressingly filthy, hopeless world that makes you want to drench yourself under a hot shower. Visually stunning, atmospherically bleak, teetering on the edge of terror, Children certainly makes its point with undeniable force and immediacy. It was only a day or so after seeing this film that I felt … more
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Pros: Amazing film, wonderful cast, gorgeously depicted from start to finish Cons: Hopeful yet inconclusive ending, pacing, predictable moments The Bottom Line: The bottom line is fit for hopscotch. "Children of Men" is an amazing achievement in today's typically shallow spread of films. Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot. "As the sound of the playgrounds faded, … more
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Pros: Film is great at creating a grimy mood Cons: The story is created of plotholes--it is the afterbirth of a better film The Bottom Line: It sucks whatever nasty thing you want to think of and it still isn't even bad enough to be a cult film. Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot. Ordinarily I stay away from reviewing something that has more than … more
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review by MzJen_2_review.
May 01, 2007
I wouldn't say this is the best movie I've ever seen, but its close. The enthusiasm of many of the reviews of this picture is entirely justified. Though it is unlikely to make anyone feel 'good', it will offer a thought provoking and chillingly plausible vision of a world sliding into despair. The pseudo-documentary camera work is slightly jarring at times, but lends further weight to the film's sense of being grounded in a realist tradition. The most outstanding thing in … more
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review by gradyharp.
March 29, 2007
CHILDREN OF MEN is a masterpiece of cinematic artistry. Director Alfonso Cuarón, using a screenplay he co-wrote with Timothy J. Sexton, has done what few artists have been able to achieve before - create an apocalyptic experience that is almost devoid of extraneous material meant to terrify the audience and focused the worst of unthinkable events into a personal story about a few people. Oh, the global destruction and masses of dead humanity are not kept from our eyes, but instead Cuarón uses these … more
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About the reviewer
MichaelN
Ranked #13
Ranked #13
I first got on this blog to discuss my first passion which is books. Since I have gotten on I find that books are only a piece of this blog and I can discuss just about anything that comes to mind. It … more
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About this movie
Presenting a bleak, harrowing, and yet ultimately hopeful vision of humankind's not-too-distant future,Children of Menis a riveting cautionary tale of potential things to come. Set in the crisis-ravaged future of 2027, and based on the atypical 1993 novel by British mystery writer P.D. James, the anxiety-inducing, action-packed story is set in a dystopian England where humanity has become infertile (the last baby was born in 2009), immigration is a crime, refugees (or "fugees") are caged like animals, and the world has been torn apart by nuclear fallout, rampant terrorism, and political rebellion. In this seemingly hopeless landscape of hardscrabble survival, a jaded bureaucrat named Theo (Clive Owen) is drawn into a desperate struggle to deliver Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), the world's only pregnant woman, to a secret group called the Human Project that hopes to discover a cure for global infertility. As they carefully navigate between the battling forces of military police and a pro-immigration insurgency, Theo, Kee, and their secretive allies endure a death-defying ordeal of urban warfare, and director Alfonso Cuaron (with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) capture the action with you-are-there intensity. There's just enough humor to balance the film's darker content (much of it coming from Michael Caine, as Theo's aging hippie cohort), and althoughChildren of Menglosses over many of the specifics about its sociopolitical worst-case scenario ...
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Cast:
Julianne Moore,
Charlie Hunnam,
Michael Caine,
Clive Owen,
Chiwetel Ejiofor,
Peter Mullan,
Danny Huston,
Pam Ferris,
Claire-Hope Ashitey,
Oana Pellea,
Paul Sharma,
Jacek Koman
Director:
Alfonso Cuarón
Genre:
Action,
Adventure
DVD Release Date:
May 26, 2009
Runtime:
109 minutes
Studio:
Universal Studios Home Entertainment,
Universal Studios
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