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$9.99 Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Children of Men
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MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity
Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Pam Ferris, and Danny Huston
Children of Men envisages a world one generation from now that has fallen into anarchy on the heels of an infertility defect in the population. The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set against the backdrop of London torn apart by violence and nationalistic sects, the film follows disillusioned bureaucrat Theo (Owen) as he becomes an unlikely champion of Earth's survival. (Universal Pictures)
| GENRE(S): | Adventure | Drama | Sci-fi | Suspense/Thriller |
| WRITTEN BY: |
Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby
P.D. James (novel The Children of Men) |
| DIRECTED BY: | Alfonso Cuarón |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 27, 2007 Theatrical: December 25, 2006 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 109 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | UK / USA |
Nominated, Golden Lion, 2006 Venice Film Festival
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 473 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Levente S gave it a1:
Children of Men suffers from what has been called 'middle child' syndrome, the illness where something is conceived with no real beginning and no real end. It is never explained why nobody can have babies, it is never explained how the girl got pregnant, it is never revealed what happens to the girl and we never find out if our species goes extinct or if she was just a fluke. The characters are one-dimensional, the action is boring, the story is dross, and the science is simply preposterous. The only good things about this movie were the powerful emotions conjured by the school, and Michael Caine's stellar performance. Other than that, though, Children of Men should have been aborted.
Ben H gave it a3:
Great filming.. but poorly developed characters, a complete lack of direction, point or cohesion and heaps of mindless violence and ugliness add up to equal the same old crap we've been shoveled for the last 30 years.
Russell J. gave it a10:
This film is fantastic. The dystopian future that Clive Owen's character Theo has to live in is believable and grim. Theo lives in a future where women are all infertile and the youngest person is 18 and has just been killed. Theo is understandably cynical and bordering on alcoholic. His true friend being an hippy played my Michael Caine. Hope is rekindled in Theo when he is introduced by his ex-wife to a young girl who is pregnant and needs them to take her to a rendezvous point. The film is about Theo's journey and his realisation that he is playing a part in something which is much bigger than him. The concept and vision of a world without children is a scary prospect and is something I never thought about until I watched this film. There are criticisms I have heard from friends. The first is the film doesn't explain why this infertility epidemic arose. My opinion on this is that it reflects real life, no one knows how Aids originated for instance. The second criticism is the low key ending which I personally love, I love the ambiguity of this ending which imbues the nature of sacrifice and your own pessimism or optimism will determine whether that was in vain.
R. Lopez gave it a10:
I was wandering in a DVD shop one day just looking for something to buy, anything that looked interesting and I came across Children of Men, at first I wasn't really interested in it so I went on to look for something else, but amazingly something compelled me to buy this movie. And I did, and now I'm glad I did Children of Men does what most dystpoia sci-fi adventures rarely do, they tell a story that all of us can relate to in someway or another. Children of Men stars Clive Owen as Theo Faron a disillusioned bureaucrat who has been tasked with the sole duty of escorting and protecting the first pregnant woman in 18 years to the Human Projects so they can utilize her pregnancy to fix the fertility problem with the world. It's a heart pounding & mind blowing visual race to get out of England before the government catches them and use the poor girls baby for publicity and to acquire money to fiance there war with the rebels. Children of Men is a heart wrenching film that deserves to be called one of the greatest modern Science Fiction films ever made. I very highly recommend this amazing film.
Rob V gave it a10:
Concerning Sibyl P's blind attempts to hurt this movies reputation, it wasn't about violence. It was about the hope new life brings in a world doomed by a fate of infertility. The scene when the man walks through a war zone carrying the baby which was born not more then a few hours ago, when everyone just stopped and looked at the child... That's what the movie was about. The death was the back drop of a world without meaning. That child gave it meaning. That's why the movie was so great.
Phil M. gave it a10:
I've never seen violence filmed so well before. It feels like you're watching footage, and not film. The use of less cuts and more one-shot "following behind the protagonist" and using less action music to create a more intense effect. I also like how the characters are genuinely fearing for their lives when under violence. The environments look the part beautifully. Very immersive film.
Sibyl P gave it a3:
The cinematography, the art direction, are interesting, the cast is good except for Miriam and Kee (not so much), but all have been put to the service of a bogus vision. What the heck is the point? Infertility is hardly a problem in the real world. Overpopulation is more of a problem. In “Children of Men,” everyone is killing everyone. That’s just stupid. London, New York, most of the civilized world, has very little crime. This director tries to make us believe that London could be a violent place where there is rape, murder, famine, cruelty, corruption, inhumanity, and chauvinism, as the norm. Well, it’s not. This movie is largely lies. Don’t fall for it. And the story goes nowhere. No interesting questions are answered. The film is not interested in truth, but only distortion and violence.
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