VidFad

Add Children of Men to the growing list of movies that I didn’t seem to like quite as much as everyone else. I don’t know why this trend is happening, whether its because I am getting tougher on movies, or other people’s tastes are just getting watered down by the quality that has been coming out lately. Either way, I haven’t seen a movie in a long time that I really loved. All that being said, I still liked Children of Men a good amount. Its one of the better/only movies I’ve seen recently. COM is definitely not a bad movie and probably even worth paying to see (I guess that is always dependant on the quality of other movies in theatres as well).

The movie details sometime in the late 2020’s when people are no longer able to have babies. No one really knows why this has been happening, but nonetheless, the youngest person on earth is now 18 years old. Because of this, many people have turned to violence and England, because of its unique geographic positioning, is one of the only places that can still sufficiently maintain some public order. I guess that’s where being an island comes in handy; that and when people start becoming zombies on the island everyone else can easily quarantine them (see 28 Days Later, awesome movie). Anyway, Clive Owen plays Theo, an aging activist who seems to have lost his will to fight and is now just drinking and deciding how or when he wants to die. His ex-wife Julian, played by Julianne Moore, is still fighting things her own way and ropes Theo back into the life. Theo has to use his connections to get travel papers for a refugee in England so that she can get to the sea and off the island where she’ll be safe. Eventually Theo learns that this woman is pregnant with the first child in over 18 years and he becomes motivated to help her, even if it means his life for hers.

Here’s what I like about the movie.

First, the movie isn’t very long and has a very steady pace. It never wasted the audience’s time with useless crap. One thing I can tell you is that even if you don’t like the movie, you won’t get bored. Another thing I liked is that aside from the whole infertility thing, I think the movie painted a very realistic picture of what the future might be like in 20 years. There were no flying cars or pneumatic tubes all over the place. Government trucks where still gas powered, guns were more or less the same, the cities looked the same, just a little older. I thought that was all very well done. I am also really starting to like Alfonso Cuarón. He directed the only Harry Potter movie that I like and I realy enjoyed his work in this movie. All things that I mentioned being good about this movie are directly attributable to him. The last thing I’m going to mention in here is the use of Radiohead’s song, Life in a Glass House, throughout an entire scene. Its early in the movie when Michael Caine, who is good as usual in the movie, is telling Clive Owen a joke about the present state of things. Honestly, aside from the joke, I can’t remember what they were talking about in that scene because I was just listening to the music.

Grade: B+

*Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the movie.

Has anyone else noticed the trend in movies where it seems that the lead actor has to die at the end of the movie? Just off the top of my head, its happened four times recently, Christian Bale in The Prestige, Leo twice in Blood Diamond and The Departed and now Clive in this. I don’t mind when it happens, but it almost seems like they are doing it just because they want to, not because it helps the story or makes the movie any better. Actually, you can scratch that statement for The Prestige, but Leo dying in The Departed was for shock value alone, no real good reason. Also, when Clive got shot in this movie, I thought they forgot about it and were just pretending he didn’t. Its very quick in the movie, but you can definitely see when he gets hit, but then nothing is shown about it again till he’s in the boat at the very end. The whole time I was sitting there thinking to myself, “Did they mess that up and just weren’t paying attention to what they were putting in the movie?” I guess they were, but I think they wouldn’t have lost anything by just recognizing that he got shot right away.

Also, people in movies need to start listening to me when I’m yelling at them from my comfy auditorium chair. When Julianne Moore gets shot, the guy is aiming at her through the window for about 5 seconds. The whole time I’m yelling, “DUCK!” What does she do? Nothing, and now she’s friggin dead. If I would’ve been in that situation, I would still be alive, sucks to be her. I also thought the guy who shot her was hilarious. All he wanted to do the whole movie was kill Clive, but he just couldn’t ever get the job done. Plus, he got nailed with a door twice, good stuff. No matter what happens to you, at least you can say, “At least I’m not that dude.” I mean, I’m pretty sure I could kill Clive Owen if I wanted to. I’m not saying I want to, but come on, it can’t be that tough. He’s British for shit sake.