Alfonso Cuaron, a master craftsman, creates a unique and totally original vision of this not-too-distant future. It's harrowing.
Children of Men (2006)
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Reviews Counted:199
Fresh:183
Rotten:16
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Children of Men works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live. This taut and thought-provoking tale may not have the showy special effects normally found in movies of this genre, but you won't care one bit after the story kicks in, about a dystopic future where women can no longer conceive and hope lies within one woman who holds the key to humanity's survival. It will have you riveted.
Theatrical Release:22-09-2006
Synopsis: CHILDREN OF MEN is not a popcorn movie. With its almost relentlessly bleak perspective on the future, Alfonso Cuarón's film doesn't make for pleasant viewing. But it's an exhilarating experience... CHILDREN OF MEN is not a popcorn movie. With its almost relentlessly bleak perspective on the future, Alfonso Cuarón's film doesn't make for pleasant viewing. But it's an exhilarating experience because the picture is an amazing dystopian drama that lacks all the typical trappings of the genre. Set uncomfortably close to the present, it paints a frighteningly realistic picture of the future. In 2027, every woman on earth is infertile. With the loss of the ability to have children, the world has also lost hope. Clive Owen (CLOSER) plays Theo, an Englishman attempting to make a life in a hellish world. His estranged wife (Julianne Moore) convinces him to help transport a young woman to safety. When Theo learns that the woman is pregnant, their journey takes on a significance--and a danger--he never imagined. This is Cuarón's best film to date, a strong statement considering his wonderful HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN and Y TU MAMA TAMBIÉN. Filmed using a handheld camera, the action draws the audience close, making the horror that much more real. In addition to its remarkable car-chase scenes, the film features impressive acting. With his expressive face and voice, Owen gives a nuanced performance that ranks with the best of his career. As a reclusive hippie, Michael Caine shares a charming counterculture view of the crumbling world. Chiwetel Ejiofor (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS) brings gravitas to the role of a terrorist. Just when the film threatens to overwhelm with its sense of dread, small moments of comedy show through in Owen's wry sense of humor and Caine's perfect delivery. When the credits roll, CHILDREN OF MEN leaves the audience feeling shell-shocked, not only because of its brutal prophecy, but also because of its brilliance. [More]
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chjwetel Ejiofor
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chjwetel Ejiofor, Peter Mullan, Charlie Hunnam, Pam Ferris, Danny Huston, Jacek Koman
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenwriter: Timothy J. Sexton, Alfonso Cuaron
Producer: Hilary Shor, Marc Abraham, Tony Smith, Eric Newman, Iain Smith
Composer: John Tavener
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Children of Men
Children of Men is a heartbreaking, bullet-strewn valentine to what keeps us human.
The story, based on P.D. James' novel, grabs you at first, but its grip slackens as the unanswered questions and murky plot developments add up.
An exhilarating sci-fi action thriller with a powerful social and political message.
Cuarón's Children of Men is a formidably distinguished piece of pop filmmaking.
This is one of the best movies of the whole year. And likely one of the best of next year, too.
Instantly up to speed and powered by that rarest of cinematic fuels -- intelligent action -- Children of Men is a nativity story for the ages, this or any other.
My problem with the film was expecting too much, because it kept telling me to expect more.
Director Alfonso Cuarón takes his career to a whole other level here. He expertly preys on our doomsday fears, punctuating scenes with the harsh sounds and images of war we've already heard and seen on the nightly news.
Outside of Black Christmas -- and aren't we all planning on staying outside of Black Christmas? -- this is probably the feel-not-so-great movie of the holiday season. But if you're in the proper, semi-dark mood, it's a gritty gem.
Is Children of Men for everyone? I don't know. I haven't asked everyone. I can only say it was for me, and that I found its vision of the future gripping--and hopeful, ultimately.
The film gradually devolves into action-adventure, then the equivalent of a war movie. But the filmmaking is pungent throughout, and the first half hour is so jaw-dropping in its fleshed-out extrapolation that Cuaron earns the right to coast a bit.
One of the year's most invigorating and adept pieces of filmmaking.
Alfonso Cuarón's grim, stark vision of the future is one of the most amazing and original films of its kind.
One of the most technically brilliant and thematically layered films of the year.
A breathtaking and original embodiment of the purity of a child, and the absolute necessity of knowing that life goes on.
Alfonso Cuaron rides it out to the bitter end, creating a harsh mirror of our future with violence and some of the most purely exhilarating moments of cinema to be found in all of 2006.
Made with palpable energy, intensity and excitement, it compellingly creates a world gone mad that is uncomfortably close to the one we live in. It is a Blade Runner for the 21st century, a worthy successor to that epic of dystopian decay.
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón's dense, dark, and layered meditation on fertility, technology, immigration, war, love, and life itself may be the movie of the still-young millennium.
For those capable of enduring its most gut-wrenching moments, Children of Men offers inventive energy, ferocious intelligence, and yet, affirmation of life against the most calamitous circumstances.
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