** Danger Wil Robinson, very minor spoilers ahead, Danger **
First off, this film isn't gonna do well at the box office, and it’s not gonna get a high IMDB rating... BUT, to me, this is one of the greatest films of the last 10 years, if not ever.
Set 20 years in the future, the human race has lost the ability to conceive children. This is just a given, and if you can get onboard with the concept (it is fiction after all), it’s perfectly handled. Clive Owen, who many think should have been the next Bond is great in this. Just as he can handle the suave, action-y stuff (check him out in the BMW adver-films) he can also play the downtrodden everyman.
He plays a man whos past comes back to haunt him, and he’s thrown into a situation that is constantly fluid through the whole film. All around him are militants and military, yet he never picks up a gun (though to save himself, he does commit a rather aggressive action, which I guarantee will make you go "oooof"). The back story is built up over time rather than forced on you, giving one of the best organic feeling films in a long time. There are other hints as other possible story lines that aren’t brought up in the film, but which could have you talking about them over a drink afterwards.
All the characters are handled deftly, from the main guy seemingly fed up with the human race that finds a cause, to the eccentric loner who doesn’t come off as a crackpot, to the hardass rebel woman who you actually smile along with in a tender moment before.... well, fan and hit could be used in the next sentence.
The environments are excellent too, giving one of the best “near future” experiences I’ve ever had. There’s nothing to OTT, yet enough to make you go “that’s cool”. But as this is a tech forum, you’ll probably be able to recognise most of the tech that runs this future tech (eg poster adverts that move, easily connected to OLED). Theres a good selection of old and new too. A car that looks like a Renault Megane but aged 20 years, or one that looks like an evolution of a Volvo V70. All very nicely done.
The camera work is superb. In a ridiculously intense gun battle, the camera tracks like you/it are there (as a character). Its very “saving private ryan” but a bit more stylish. While its not exactly Technicolour, it doesn’t fall back on the sepia-ish tones to show that its depressing. The sets are good enough for that.
One point I made in another thread about films these days. They tend to shy away from “violence”. I get hugely annoyed with people who say that films are too violent nowadays, yet Terminator 3 (eg) chickened out a lot and Saw is violence for violence sake, reactionary not revolutionary. Children of Men, however, is gritty. LOTS of people die, in horrific ways. If someone is shot in the head, you see it, rather than hearing a gunshot off screen. I was appalled and enthralled by the guts of this films to rile against is brethren, and show violence and torture how you would expect in the situation. It’s breathtakingly awful and marvellous at the same time.
The main criticism I’ve seen levelled at the film is the ending. To me this is inconsequential. The “real” ending happens about 10 mins before the actual end of the film. It is stunning. Emotional, tense, joyful and astonishment. It's then that you get a sense of closure, of the message the film is trying to put across. The actual end of the film could only be one way, and if people don’t like it then, well, meh. If they say it needs to be changed, then they are unfortunately deluded by 24 et al (disclaimer: I love 24). The very last scene of the film happens the only way it should. But it is not the end of the film, that happens just before.
All in all, an outstanding, moving and vaguely disturbing film. The visuals and settings are second to none; the story, while slightly clichéd, is handled superbly; the characters and acting is perfectly inline with how you would expect from such a story; and the tone of the film is spot on (laughing one moment, vaguely ill the next).
This film has jumped on to my Top 10, easily.
First off, this film isn't gonna do well at the box office, and it’s not gonna get a high IMDB rating... BUT, to me, this is one of the greatest films of the last 10 years, if not ever.
Set 20 years in the future, the human race has lost the ability to conceive children. This is just a given, and if you can get onboard with the concept (it is fiction after all), it’s perfectly handled. Clive Owen, who many think should have been the next Bond is great in this. Just as he can handle the suave, action-y stuff (check him out in the BMW adver-films) he can also play the downtrodden everyman.
He plays a man whos past comes back to haunt him, and he’s thrown into a situation that is constantly fluid through the whole film. All around him are militants and military, yet he never picks up a gun (though to save himself, he does commit a rather aggressive action, which I guarantee will make you go "oooof"). The back story is built up over time rather than forced on you, giving one of the best organic feeling films in a long time. There are other hints as other possible story lines that aren’t brought up in the film, but which could have you talking about them over a drink afterwards.
All the characters are handled deftly, from the main guy seemingly fed up with the human race that finds a cause, to the eccentric loner who doesn’t come off as a crackpot, to the hardass rebel woman who you actually smile along with in a tender moment before.... well, fan and hit could be used in the next sentence.
The environments are excellent too, giving one of the best “near future” experiences I’ve ever had. There’s nothing to OTT, yet enough to make you go “that’s cool”. But as this is a tech forum, you’ll probably be able to recognise most of the tech that runs this future tech (eg poster adverts that move, easily connected to OLED). Theres a good selection of old and new too. A car that looks like a Renault Megane but aged 20 years, or one that looks like an evolution of a Volvo V70. All very nicely done.
The camera work is superb. In a ridiculously intense gun battle, the camera tracks like you/it are there (as a character). Its very “saving private ryan” but a bit more stylish. While its not exactly Technicolour, it doesn’t fall back on the sepia-ish tones to show that its depressing. The sets are good enough for that.
One point I made in another thread about films these days. They tend to shy away from “violence”. I get hugely annoyed with people who say that films are too violent nowadays, yet Terminator 3 (eg) chickened out a lot and Saw is violence for violence sake, reactionary not revolutionary. Children of Men, however, is gritty. LOTS of people die, in horrific ways. If someone is shot in the head, you see it, rather than hearing a gunshot off screen. I was appalled and enthralled by the guts of this films to rile against is brethren, and show violence and torture how you would expect in the situation. It’s breathtakingly awful and marvellous at the same time.
The main criticism I’ve seen levelled at the film is the ending. To me this is inconsequential. The “real” ending happens about 10 mins before the actual end of the film. It is stunning. Emotional, tense, joyful and astonishment. It's then that you get a sense of closure, of the message the film is trying to put across. The actual end of the film could only be one way, and if people don’t like it then, well, meh. If they say it needs to be changed, then they are unfortunately deluded by 24 et al (disclaimer: I love 24). The very last scene of the film happens the only way it should. But it is not the end of the film, that happens just before.
All in all, an outstanding, moving and vaguely disturbing film. The visuals and settings are second to none; the story, while slightly clichéd, is handled superbly; the characters and acting is perfectly inline with how you would expect from such a story; and the tone of the film is spot on (laughing one moment, vaguely ill the next).
This film has jumped on to my Top 10, easily.
Last edited by a moderator:
