Children of Men

A

Directed by Alphonso Cuaron

Alphonso Cuaron's post apocalyptic thriller "Children of Men" is proof that major studio films with large budgets need not be either mindless and empty entertainment nor pseudo-intellectual pieces trying too hard to win an Oscar. "Children or Men's" blend of speculative history, big budget effects and solid acting make it one of the best studio effort I've seen in awhile (or at least since "The Dark Knight"...)

It is the year 2029 and the world's youngest human being, an 18 year old Argentine boy, has just been killed. Humans, unable to reproduce, have turned on one another, leading to the rapid collapse of most major world cities. Only London remains as a bastion of Western Civilization, resisting the coming extinction of the human race. All is not rosy in the UK, however, which has turned into a brutal police state that rigorously opposes immigration and controls its borders tightly. Theo (Clive Owen), a morose, jaded single man living in London is kidnapped by a terrorist organization helmed by called The Fishes who enlist his help to transport a young girl named Kee to the coast of England. Kee is no ordinary girl, however--she's the world's first pregnant woman in more than 18 years. Theo quickly realizes that the Fishes interest in Kee is anything but innocent and must find a way to protect the girl and her unborn child.

"Children of Men" is tremendous from first frame to last, compelling, thrilling, and tightly directed and realized. Cuaron's pacing is outstanding as he doesn't allow any significant lulls in the action but at the same time refrains from simply bombaring the screen with one chase scene after another. Cuaron, more than perhaps any other contemporary director, has always realized that his films, no matter how intellectually engaging he wants them to be, will always benefit from being entertaining and viewer friendly. He succeeds wonderfully in adapting Philp K. Dick's novel into a fast paced, exciting whole that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. The last twenty minutes of "Children of Men" are jaw dropping, the product of inspired direction, a good script and mountains of cash.

As speculative history, the premise of "Children of Men" is interesting even if the reason for humanity's infertility is never fully explained. Realisitcally, the reasons behind the globe's mass infertilty are unimportant and serve more as a basis to launch into virtual, "what if" history. More than anything it appears as if the makers of "Children of Men" simply wanted to present a cinematic answer to Dick's original question in his novel, namely what the world would look like in the wake of some cataclysmic event. The future depicted in "Children of Men" seems pretty believable, a dystopia that is frightening to behold yet at the same time an undeniably familiar outgrowth of the world we currently live in. I usually hate dystopian films for the simple reason that the dystopian "future" they reveal , usually consting of a sci-fi world of urban, rendered in over the top CGI and ruled by an evil neo-fascist government, always seems fake and unbelievable. In "Children of Men" the future, although scary, looks pretty credible.
Overall, Cuaron's movie is an immensely engaging work based on a fascinating "what if" premise that is both intelligent and ridiculously entertaining, no small feat if I do say so myself.