By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007

Rating: 3.5 out of 4

The problem with Children of Men is that it makes your brain hurt.

Hurt from thinking. With all the breaks between chase scenes and bombs blowing up, there are a dozen opportunities to marinate in the overwhelming doom of 2027, how it hits somewhat close to home, the frailties of life as we know it.

Hurt from the possibility that something even more horrendous is around the next corner in a city (London) that is supposedly the safest one left in a world gone to chaos.

Hurt from the notion that a pregnant woman could be injured or murdered for reasons that go beyond normal comprehension.

The hurt is not, in the end, what this film is about. In fact, the story is devoid of political subplots that take us physically outside of Great Britain. All of the politics is intertwined within the state and rebel factions.

For some inexplicable reason, I expected far more politicking, somewhere along the lines of the Galactic Federation of Star Wars and your basic United Nations one-shot.

I'll say this for a movie that absolutely put a spell over me for 2 hours: in hindsight, it was purely about a man helping a woman get from Point A to Point B. Of course, she is first pregnant woman in 18 years, and civilization is depending on her and her baby's survival. But it really is that simple. It's about Clive Owen helping this young woman escape the red-alert world of Britain to find help off shore.

Beyond that, I've got little to say. It was a Clive Owen flick. The man is a great actor, understated and raw, powerful and refined. Julianne Moore was sensational in heartbreaking role, and Michael Caine was brilliant.

This film challenges the viewer to think. In the end, it leaves me with a feeling, an emotion of wanting, hoping and desiring peace more than ever. If that was the filmmaker's goal, he won. I'm sold, even when it was about Point A and Point B.

We should be so fortunate to have films this simple.

Previous Article: About the Top 10 ...
Next Article: Same as it ever was

Comments