Up there with the best of this genre

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2006)

The plot for this isn't one that you'd want to try and analyse in any great detail - there's probably enough holes in it to fill the Albert Hall.
Having said that though, Children of Men is, at times, quite brilliant in it's realisation of a dystopian future. A lot of it has been seen before in other films but at the same time it was still pretty uncomfortable to watch.
And some of the action sequences are just jaw-dropping. I'm not sure how much film-trickery was involved but several of the action sequences (2-3 minutes and more!) appear to be filmed in a single take. If anything the length of the takes was so extreme as to have me distracted - wondering how on earth they'd done it! The sequence where the group get ambushed in the countryside and are driving backwards with a motorcycle in pursuit is impressive enough - but then the section in the Bexhill refugee camp with the army etc is almost (but not quite) up there with the Saving Private Ryan battle scenes.
Michael Caine steals the show in a part that seems to have been tailor made for him! Clive Owen and Julianne Moore do well, despite the latter's disappointingly short time on-screen! Not a film you'd want to go and see if you want to be cheered up - although there's a surprising number of laughs to be had!
Well made and well worth going to see. Has the hallmarks of being a cult classic in 20 years time.