 Tagline: No child has been born for 18 years. No children. No future. No hope. In the year 2027, eighteen years since the last baby was born, disillusioned Theo (Clive Owen) becomes an unlikely champion of the human race when he is asked by his former lover (Julianne Moore) to escort a young pregnant woman out of the country as quickly as possible. In this thrilling race against time, Theo will risk everything to deliver the miracle the whole world has been waiting for. Co-starring Michael Caine, filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón's Children Of Men is the powerful film Pete Hammond of Maxim calls "magnificent...a unique and totally original vision." Storyline: The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth. Written by Production Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Greg Maltz on May 12, 2009 -- Recently, a trio of talented Mexican directors--Alejandro Inarritu, Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron--began showcasing their immense filmmaking chops. Each director commands unique vision, effects wizardry and the ability to coax top performances from their actors. They've already had an enormous impact on Hollywood. Nowhere is their talent more apparent than in Inarritu's heightened portrayal of global alienation, Babel, Del Toro's fantastic vision of a young girl's imagination set against Spanish resistance, Pan's Labyrinth, and Cuaron's voyage into a future where the human race is dying out, Children of Men. For the latter, Cuaron teams up with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki to deliver a portrait so compelling and believable that it does not seem like sci fi. With its intense plot and heavy symbolism, Children of Men is more than a simple action flick. But once the Blu-ray slides into your player, the rawness of the visuals and sounds will stun your senses and rattle your room. The main draw is the nonstop action that Cuaron handles expertly, and Universal's Blu-ray release does not disappoint. Based on the story by P.D. James, Children of Men is an epirevolutionary look into the not-so-distant future. The year is 2027. The place is England. Illegal immigrants are being kept in internment camps as the world struggles to deal with terrorist groups and a mysterious medical condition with no known origin or cure. The condition is sterility. Unable to produce offspring, the human race is on the verge of extinction. The film starts off with a bang when Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is nearly blown up in a terrorist attack on a cafe--saved by mere luck and timing. His nonchalance at being seconds from death sets the tone for the entire film. With bullets whizzing by and danger around every corner, Children of Men becomes a game of inches and a study in chance versus faith. Faron and his old friend, Jasper (Michael Caine) soon become embroiled in a mission assigned by his old gang of activists, The Fishes. Headed by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), the gang persuades Faron to secure transit papers for an immigrant named Kee (Claire Hope Ashity). Pursued by terrorists and by the government, Faron knows that Jasper is the only one he can trust. When he discovers that Kee is miraculously pregnant, the stakes are raised and he realizes that the future of humanity rests upon his ability to keep Kee away from The Fishes and the government that would use her for political gain. Chased from the English countryside to a bombed out urban ghetto where a military campaign is underway, Faron must keep all his wits about him to survive. More importantly he must protect Kee and her unborn baby--a deadly challenge that proves to be a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat, white-knuckle ride, rivaling some of the best thriller movies in recent years. The frailty of a defenseless pregnant woman is constantly set against the brutality of life-threatening characters and situations, making some scenes absolutely frightening as they play out. The nearly constant death and mayhem on all sides keeps audiences on their toes. The scene in the internment camp rivals even Black Hawk Down for pure adrenaline-rush warzone violence. With messianic overtones and nonstop action, the film speeds toward its inevitable conclusion. The political statement of Children of Men and its relevance to current events is interesting. At the start of the movie, we learn through a newscast that the youngest human being is over 18. That's the age when you can be tried as an adult and it seems Cuaron indeed has placed the entire western world on trial in his film. Children of Men certainly renders judgment. Its statement is clearly one of moral equivalence...that governments are just as bad as the terrorists they fight...that pot-smoking hippies can be the wisest of spiritual martyrs...that we have sins to atone before faith in humanity can be restored. Not the least of these sins is to pay for the plight of Africa and the institution of slavery. While the film never comes right out and says that's what all this is about, you don't have to be a genius to see the role of race and gender in Cuaron's Children of Men. The caucasian Faron sacrifices everything to save the black Kee. While he is merely a protector and steward, she is the symbol of fertility, hope and the future of the human race--her baby is tantamount to the messiah. But wait. There's more. And it strongly suggests that Children of Men is less a vision of the future than Cuaron's agenda for today in which he demonizes government actions. Even before the opening credits or the first frame of the movie, Cuaron lets us know the army is occupying mosques. The homeland security bill has been passed, closing all borders. Immigrants in the internment camps will soon be deported. Later we learn about "The Human Project", a Greenpeace-like operation running boats in international waters seems to be the answer to the evil dangers of the government. From that "project" with its mothership, "The Tomorrow" to equating terrorism and government to the cliche pot-smoking John Lennon figure, Jasper, it's easy to see the film's motivations and political agenda. Regardless of whether you subscribe to that agenda, the premise, vision and pacing of Children of Men are brilliantly relentless. As for the writing and character development...it's debatable as to whether there is any character development. But the film is still well worth the ride. When I saw Children of Men in a packed theater in 2006, the imagery, premise and plot commanded a sense of awe, but something about the movie was missing. I finally realized it was character development. Cuaron seeks to make the film a morality lesson about our current political and ethical climate, but without more attention to character development, the film becomes successful mainly on the merits of its pacing, sets, effects and action sequences--and of course Cuaron proves a heavyweight on all counts. His knockout blow is to deliver a vision so powerful that even people with vastly different political views cannot help but sit up and take note. With picture and sound that far surpass the DVD version, Children of Men is a thrill ride of epic proportions that must be enjoyed on Blu-ray. Cast Notes: Juan Gabriel Yacuzzi (Baby Diego [as Juan Yacuzzi]), Mishal Husain (Newsreader), Rob Curling (Newsreader), Jon Chevalier (Café Customer), Rita Davies (Café Customer), Kim Fenton (Café Customer), Chris Gilbert (Café Customer), Phoebe Hawthorne (Café Customer), Rebecca Howard (Café Customer), Atalanta White (Café Customer [as Atlanta White]), Laurence Woodbridge (Café Customer), Clive Owen (Theo Faron), Maria McErlane (Shirley), Michael Haughey (Mr. Griffiths), Paul Sharma (Ian). User Comment: Summary: Utterly transfixed. User Comment: Summary: "The future's a thing of the past." Tremendous from start to finish. IMDb Rating (03/13/15): 7.9/10 from 323,312 users IMDb Rating (01/29/10): 8.1/10 from 144,515 users Top 250: #183
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