Review of Children of Men (2006) by Tj A — 19 Mar 2013

Children of Men is, in fact, a masterpiece. It has it all, great direction, compelling script, beyond interesting concept, fantastic acting, and some mesmerizing visuals. It also has this way of making everything in the movie seem baron and cold. Now, this is a dark movie. It's about a pandemic that makes everyone in the world infertile and Clive Owen has to protect the last pregnant women and get her to safety. But the visuals and the cinematography makes everything seem cold and in a way dull...and it is awesome. The best parts of the movie are when they are showing you this world that these people live in. It looks tired in a way and it's all the more interesting.

From the opening sequence you are pulled into this world. It's not post-apocalyptic, but it's close. Here's a SPOILER ALERT so if you want to see this, don't read on. So, the opening shows Clive Owen walking into a coffee shop to buy some coffee. On the television it's saying that the youngest person on earth has just died and everyone in the shop is crying or looking at the TV in disbelief. Owen decides not to stick around and he walks out and walks down the street. Then all of a sudden the coffee shop explodes and it goes to the main title. It's so cool and it really gives you an idea of what you're getting in for.

The rest of the movie is incredible too, but there is one scene that I want to talk about that I thought was phenomenally done. It's near the end after Owen has delivered the baby and after the mother was taken away. Owen finds her by listening to the sound of the baby crying and he gets into an apartment building and outside all hell is breaking lose. London is trying to revolt and the Army started coming and everyone is dying outside and it was tough for Clive Owen to even get to the building. So he gets up there by listening to the baby and when he gets to the floor he sees everyone in the hallway looking down it trying to see if that is actually a baby's cry. All you hear is the baby and the guns outside and Owen walks down there and finds the mother and the baby and leads them out while everyone in the hallway is touching the baby and in complete disbelief. This part is so cool right here. So Owen and the mother are walking down the stairs and the Army barges in and are screaming to like shoot, but when the soldier sees the baby he stops and then screams, "hold you fire!" Then as the two are walking out the soldier's part to two sides and make a path for them. Some soldiers fall to their knees, some are praying, and most of them are just looking at this baby astonished with their mouths gaping. This moment is priceless. Everything is so silent. All you can hear are the gunshots in the distance. It is so cool and it's so incredibly eerie and genuine that it puts you in a state in which you are in utter awe. Then there's an explosion and the place goes quickly back to a state of chaos.

This whole movie is like this though. It's so genuine and just so real even though it's a fictional and highly unlikely story. Part of this goes to the actors for their phenomenal jobs throughout the movie and a lot of it goes to the director who created this world with the most finesse and skill. I feel like this is how people would really act during this sort of situation. It would be devastating but this made it look really cool. As I said before, Children of Men is a masterpiece and will go down as a sci-fi classic.