Movies #25 – Children of Men

Children of Men (Widescreen Edition) I liked The Departed. Let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. That said, I’m now really annoyed that The Departed won Best Picture and all the rest of the awards it walked away with, because Children of Men kicks its remake ass all over the screen. This film, telling the story of an Earth churning along after 18 years of total infertility, is one of those films basically made to please me. It’s intelligent, exciting, well acted, well written and smartly directed. It also speaks directly to the grim future aesthetic I like so much in my fiction (and am horrified of in my fact,) which slots it right into the Blade Runner wing of my personal favorites.I eat this sort of near future Sci-Fi up.

Clive Owen, playing a man tossed into the middle of a world-changing event (the first pregnancy in decades), and Michael Caine were the real standouts for me in a cast filled with good performances. Owen really owns the camera. I’ve been a fan of his since Croupier and he’s only improved since. He’s also an actor who’ll age well. Caine’s turn in this is one of those roles that reminds the viewer that he does actually know what he’s doing. For every paycheck role he’s ever taken, there’s one of these waiting in the wings to make up for it.

All in all this is a great film. One that I’ll hopefully revisit soon.

It’s also available as an Amazon “unbox” download. Go figure. Children of Men