Children of Men
In a post apocalyptic world where widespread infertility has caused governments to fall a single baby will change the world.
Film making 20/25
Cinematography 22/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 18/25
Total 80/100
Clive Owen stars as Theo, a political activist turned survivor just like everyone else in the world, worldwide infertility has brought humanity to its knees. Governments have crumbled and the United Kingdom is the last known government to keep a semblance of peace.
It has been over 18 years since the last baby was born on the planet people have rioted and stopped believing in their own survival. With the world in chaos Theo is kidnapped by his ex wife Julian Taylor, played by Julianne Moore, who wants his help in getting a travel permit for someone.
An underground movement called the Fishes has been steadily trying to undermine the government in England and found Kee while she was pregnant. Julian is a high member of this underground and is trying to find a safe place for Kee and her unborn baby.
With illegal immigration being the major security concern for England Theo can obtain travel permits through contacts he has. When he gets the papers he finds out that the papers are for a young woman and her caretaker but some renegade group attacks them while they are traveling to the border.
Julian is killed by a man on a motorcycle and the rest flee to a safe house in the country where Theo finds out by the young woman named Kee that she is pregnant. With her being the first pregnancy in 18 years and no other woman knowingly being fertile she is the most valuable person for the government and the underground.
When Theo hears someone coming in late at night to the safe house he sees it is the man who shot Julian at the ambush, he immediately suspects something is up. He takes Kee and flees the safe house with the caretaker to get them to his longtime friend’s house also in the countryside.
When the group finds his hiding place his friend Jasper Palmer, played by Michael Caine, an old political cartoonist stays behind to give Theo time to get away. Jasper has a contact at a detention center for illegal immigrants that will help them get to a boat along the shore where the underground knows that a boat regularly visits the main land for a supply pickup.
A group of scientists are working on a cure for the infertility and are based in the Azores and the caretaker helping them knows when the ship will rendezvous at a buoy offshore. Theo helps Kee have her baby as they hide out in a slum of the detention center and the police start raiding the detention center suspecting something is up.
Before Theo can make it to the boat and the buoy offshore the Fishes find him and take Kee away but the police find them before they can kill Theo. Theo escapes in the firefight and runs after Kee who is taken by the Fishes into an apartment building with the police using tanks right after them.
Theo ends up catching up with Kee and taking her out of the building as the Fishes are killed one by one by the police from the street. When Theo is leading Kee out with her baby crying everyone stops shooting and allows them to pass safely.
Theo makes it out and he takes Kee in a small row boat to the buoy but has been shot, Kee tells him she will name the baby after Theo’s son. Theo dies as the ship from the scientists comes into view and takes Kee away with them, humanity may be saved but we will never know as the movie ends.
Children of Men is a very good movie but it is hard to follow at points and was one that I did have to really pay attention to the first time I watched it. While there is some action it is mostly a political thriller with lots of chase scenes instead of the hero doing all the fighting.
I thought the hero being the one who does all the action to get away and protect the young woman and later her and the baby was a great release from the gun toting hero movies that have been overdone in films. Clive Owen is a very unwitting accomplice in Children of Men and does a great job of not being the action hero with all the right moves.
The film hits so many different levels with political intrigue, action and suspense that you really are caught unawares as to just who the good guys are. Children of Men is well worth having in any film collection and worth a return visit now and again as a great film with some really well done cinematography.
The Blu-ray edition of Children of Men has several making of and commentary extras as well as an interesting advertising campaign included in the film. The making of features include Under Attack, Theo & Julian, Futuristic Design and Visual Effects: Making the Baby.
The film has an added feature that highlights the advertising campaign that was created in the film with commercials and other advertising. These ads and information about them are available as pop ins during the film and play using the U-Control function of your Blu-ray player.
The advertisements are created just for the film and play on televisions in scenes and with the pop in info and commercials you get to see the full ads without interrupting your film. This is just one good use of the in film features along with the audio commentary so you get more information while watching the movie.
The other making of features are pretty good and add to the entertainment value, especially the features for the stunt and action scenes as well as the visual effects that highlight the magic behind creating the lifelike baby. The extras on the Blu-ray edition are well worth a look and a repeat visit now and then when you pull out the film for watching.
Children of Men is a really good movie and the Blu-ray edition has plenty of features on it to make it a worthwhile purchase.