Virtuoso film making from Cuarón

Rating: 9/10 (22 September 2006)

OK lets get straight to the point, this is the easily the best action movie I've seen for several years - a gripping story, believable character acting combined with taught direction and thankfully sans cringe-making dialogue and Hollywood sentimentality.
Whether the plot line bears any resemblance to the novel is frankly irrelevant - the screenplay successfully creates a recognisable (near) future world without relying on hover cars and camp Space 1999 type fashions.
The extended scene following Clive Owens character as he battles through the immigrant compound betters in intensity and realism any movie battle scene I can think of (yep including the beach landing in Private Ryan) - it looks like its been shot in one continuous take. That being the case I'm still trying to work out how Cuarón managed to stage such a frantic, exciting and bloody scene.
Sadly, the local Odeon where I watched the film had only about a dozen or so in the audience - pretty rubbish for a first night, especially considering the quality of the movie.
Children of men works on several levels; as a thriller it betters recent Hollywood action flicks; as an example of virtuoso film making (stunning cinematography) and on another level it offers a damning indictment on the increasingly right wing political morality currently prevalent in UK and US government (but you don't have to read that into it to enjoy the movie).
And as its sort of a British movie, you should go see it.