Despite Its Strengths And Awards And Critical Praise This Is An Often Mediocre Movie

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2009)

I was really looking forward to this movie . I do like British dystopian / apocalyptic movies which have been in vogue for the last few years , think 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER , V FOR VENDETTA etc and CHILDREN OF MEN was very well regarded by the critics even picking up a couple of Bafta awards and three Oscar nominations . Three Oscar nominations for a dystopian apocalyptic movie ! This means it's gotta be a great movie right ? Unfortunately it's not
It did have the potential to be a great movie but what ruins it is the lack of any type of internal or external logic . The human race has been sterile for 20 years so humanity will become extinct . Don't you think the sharpest minds in the world will go out of their way to find a cure for sterility ? They've even found a cure for this in real life and have done so for many years , it's called IVF treatment , something that is conveniently forgotten in this vision of the future
Even worse is the confusing idea that because we're dying out the British government has become fascist and they're stamping down on illegal immigrants . I'm sorry but if Britain is an island why don't the government just block the channel tunnel and search every boat docking in the country ? Surely that's a much better sensible idea than allowing the scenario seen here ? Not allowing illegal immigrants on to an island ( Whilst allowing immigrants with much needed skils to stay ) merely takes some political will combined with some common sense and would be a vote winner with the indigenous electorate regardless of voters ethnicity so why the need of fascism when you can have populist democratic government ?
There's also something else wrong with this premise - why does the slow extinction of mankind lead to so much nihilism ? Put it like this: you've been diagnosed with a terminal illness meaning you have a few years to live so how would you live out your time ? Would you face the future with dignity and calm going about your life as you always have or would you become entirely apathetic about life or would you use the time you have embarking on hedonism ? I think most people would choose one of these options but very few people would genuinely become violent apocalyptic nihilists as seen here
It's been said that Alfonso Cuaron doesn't like to explain narrative turns similar to Michelangelo Antonio and it shows . The characters are often underdeveloped and their motives are often unclear. Like the government we never find out what motivates the terrorists and apart from casting Julianne Moore and Michael Caine in a rather cynical attempt to bump up the box office is their any reason for their characters to exist in the screenplay ? Neither Julian or Jasper contribute anything to the confused plot
Having said all this Cuaron excels in the visuals . The grimy London of the future is certainly memorable while the battle scene towards the end is right there with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and BLACK HAWK DOWN . Also well done is the ambush in the countryside with the burning car and it's those scenes that will linger long in the memory long after you've forgotten the often risible screenplay
All in all CHILDREN OF MEN is a very frustrating , flawed film . It's by no means the masterpiece many claim it is . It's interesting how many American critics enjoyed it . Could it be that America is more religious in its outlook and recognised an ecclesiastical subtext to the story such as having the protagonist called Theodore who sacrifices his life for the future of mankind ? Perhaps , but this screenplay won an Oscar nomination and if anyone thinks is a great screenplay then gawd help us all