Cool visual technique & sound design, mediocre story & acting

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2008)

If you're looking for a stylish and technically interesting film then Children of Men is worth your time. The cinematography, editing, sound design, art design, and other technical visual and audio elements of this movie are outstanding. There are a two amazing extended scenes shot as one continuous take, although my guess (haven't watched supplemental materials) is that the scenes were digitally stitched together. No matter how it was done, what matters is how it looks on the screen and IMHO they look amazing.
However, that's really all the film has. The plot is simplistic and the acting mediocre. Michael Caine brings the screen to life a bit when he's on screen, but the rest of the cast phones it in. Regarding the plot, here are two examples of laughable elements (and I haven't read the book so maybe I should blame the author):

We learn that the main character's son died....from pandemic flu! So 1/3 of the way into a film about how humanity is dying out due to worldwide sterility the writers feel the need to heap another catastrophe into the mix. I laughed when it was revealed the son died from pandemic flu.

There's a "bad guy" henchman right out of James Bond films. He guns down a character in one scene (amazing long scene #1), shows up a few scenes later at a hideout, and then shows up again to try and kill the main character in the second amazing long scene. He's almost a caricature of screen villains...evil yet mildly incompetent.

I must admit that I'm a film geek when it comes to technical style elements, so the long steadicam shots were a bit distracting to me. However, they were amazing to watch, and the film was entertaining in an escapist sort of way.