contrived and mundane

Rating: 3/10 (26 February 2007)

I can't believe that this film is rated so highly -- I was shocked to see that it had been nominated for 3 academy awards.
It's not the worst film I've seen this year, but the acting isn't great and the plot is very contrived. Though I tend to agree with the (not too subtle) political messages contained in the film (that we are moving towards a police state, that our crusade against illegal immigration is a bad thing, that the government shouldn't be trusted), I think that these messages are inappropriately conveyed.
Successful films, even romances, are successful because they allow the viewer to suspend disbelief, and Children of Men didn't do it for me. It's not realistic, yet still highly predictable. The actors do a poor job of creating a sense of "character". The camera work and editing are good, but without a believable story line that I can identify with, what's the point? Why bother?