On DVD: Children of Men

 

 

 

 

Directed By Alfonso Cuaron

Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine

 

“I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?”

 

Clive Owen as Theodore Faron

 

Could the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y tu mamá también direct a film that many are calling “Blade Runner for the 21^st Century”?

 

The Movie

 

The film is set in London in the 2027. The world is in chaos and devastation. That is, everyone except for England, who is hanging on, but only by a mere thread.

 

However, daily life in England is not all crumpets and tea. It seems to be fiercely controlled by the military. Terrorists set off bombs daily in protest of the military rounding up all immigrants and sending them back to their home countries. Also, the world is plagued with infertility with the last baby being born 19 years ago.

 

Theo Faron (Clive Owen) deals with the stress of daily life by hitting the bottle. He finds it easier to rush by the metal cages holding immigrants waiting for trains to avoid looking into their eyes, the alcohol helps. He finds refuge from the chaos of London by visiting his friend Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine), a former political cartoonist who relishes his hippie lifestyle with his wife and dog in his remote eclectic home, and enjoys sharing his various types of marijuana with Theo.

 

 

Enter into Theo’s life Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore). A former lover, she desperately needs Theo’s help in getting transit papers for Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey). Julian and Theo have a complicated past. They used to be activists together and had a son together that passed away. Although they love each other, the painful memories of their son prevent them from being together. Also, while Julian is still passionate about being an activist, Theo has become complacent, depressed and numb about the current situation in England.

 

Why is it important to get this young girl Kee out of London? She hides her secret well from Theo for awhile then reveals a belly pregnant with child when it appears he might back out of helping her. This child is a miracle but getting this young woman out of London is going to be far from easy. It may even cost Theo, Julian and their rag-tag bunch of activists their lives.

 

 

Children of Men is an exquisitely dystopian look into the future. The direction by Alfonso Cuaron is bold, gripping and refreshingly energetic. The cinematography is breathtaking and intensely bleak.

 

The eye for detail in the creation of the look of London 2027 is in a word: stunning. The crumbling gray buildings that feature spectacular moving ads are beautiful in their mesh of destruction and high tech gadgetry. These same moving ads appear on contemporary rickshaws. Everywhere are skillfully designed posters from the government with messages warning to turn in anyone that could possibly be an immigrant. Now with all of this attention to detail and work to set a tone for this film are there some glaring bits of clumsy political commentary?  It seems that the director feels such a need to make a commentary about the current war in Iraq that he's willing to sacrifice a bit of pacing and selling of this future world to do it.  For examples there are posters protesting the Iraq war 20 years after it happened.  if we go down a street now will we see some old anti-Vietnam posters hanging about?  It just feels forced and not well thought out like so much of the rest of the film is.  This is the perfect film to build a commentary about the current war but it has to be done much smarter than it is here or it'll disrupt the flow of the movie.  A good example of Iraq War commentary can be seen in the occupation of Caprica episodes of the Battlestar Galactica television series running on the SCIFI Channel.  The commentary is strong and thought provoking but it never disrupts the story of seems wedged in.

 

The acting by Moore and Owen is first rate. The performance by Michael Caine is definitely a scene stealer. Clare-Hope Ashitey as Kee gives a remarkable breakout performance. She is a performer to keep your eye on.

 

 

Children of Men is a dazzling film and while it may not be perfect, at least it takes a lot of chances and I always support a filmmaker that isn’t afraid to take risks. Do I think it is as good as Blade Runner? No, but at least it is a very strong step in the right direction. If you want bland and safe filmmaking, pick up a copy of The Pursuit of Happyness or We Are Marshall. If you want to see and experience a truly audacious piece of filmmaking, check out Children of Men.

 

7.5/10

The Video

The anamorphic widescreen transfer does a great job of preserving the look of the film as it appeared in theaters.  It's grainy in places and the color pallet is washed, all purposeful, to show a future of devastation, a future of the world coming to an end.  Skin tones are realistic and black levels are solid with only minor issues of murkiness in darker scenes.  Overall this is a solid presentation.

8/10

Audio

A Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is available in English, French, and Spanish.  Use of the surrounds is a bit more sporadic than I would have liked but there are a few instances of good immersion, mostly the action sequences.  Dialogue is clean and crisp throughout and the subtle score is well mixed with everything else happening on screen.  I would like to have heard more ambient sounds in quieter moments but overall the presentation is a solid one.

Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc release comes in a standard amaray case with artwork that's honestly a bit disappointing compared to the posters for the theatrical release.  Sure from the artwork we know Clive Owen is in the film but we don't get much of a feel for what the movie is supposed to be.

Right away I have to say I'm extremely disappointed that there's no director or writer audio commentary.  This film is screaming for a commentary and it's criminal that there isn't one on the disc.  This makes me think we'll se a double dip of this film in a few months.

There are a series of brief featurettes covering the making of the film and the innovative use of digital effects.  Most interesting is the coverage of the digital effects used to make the camera move in and out of a car and other similar scenes.  This had to be some of the most subtle and effective use of digital effects I've seen in a science fiction film.  There's also a short covering some of the thematic elements of the film.  Overall that featurette is just depressing, but the thematic elements in the film are depressing so it fits but it's not as intellectual as it was meant to be I'm sure.

Other than that there are some deleted scenes.  This movie really set out to be ground breaking and for the most part it was successful.  It's a thinking man's film and there's a lot of potential for discussion after a viewing.  The movie deserves more attention than it gets in this paltry selection of bonus features.  As I said I bet we see a two disc version down the road.

5.5/10

This movie tries to say a lot as subtly as possible so when it's not subtle it's jarring.  It's an imperfect film, but the fact that it tries so hard to raise the bar makes it a valid one.  Children of Men will definitely invoke more meaningful discussion afterwards than most summer flicks that's for sure.  For sci-fi fans this is a must see.  Now as far as calling it Blade Runner for a new generation I won't go that far because Blade Runner was a perfect movie and this isn't quite there.  It is easily the most deep thinking sci-fi movie to hit theaters and now DVD in years.

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

-Suzie Lackey

-Stephen Lackey