'Children of Men'- avoiding the Hollywood cliques

Rating: 10/10 (6 November 2006)

When I read the book by PD James on which this film is based about 15 years ago I thought it was a terrifying concept, a world without future. No more Christmas, no schools, a death of everything that determines the future of man. It put me in touch with how much we, as humans, are driven innately by the knowledge that there is a future beyond our own existence. As it is in most cases the film was not as powerful as the book but I was impressed by the depiction of futuristic London and the glimmer of hope amongst the war zone into which humanity had descended. Michael Caine shines as the eccentric hippie who lovingly attends to his disabled wife and Clive Owen extends himself as the chain smoking hero who doesn't need a cache of firearms to justify this mantle. 'Children of Men' did not descend into 'Hollywoods empty servings' of a film with a neat, predictable platform for the 'major' actors, and instead made the viewer experience the sense of a world that has lost its direction and predictability in deploying the Hollywood formula.