Scarily reminiscent of current day totalitarianism

Rating: 10/10 (13 February 2007)

This was the 2006 film of the year by some margin in my humble opinion. A fantastic blend of sci-fi fantasy, thriller and road-movie, whilst also being political "issuetainment".
I have been harbouring negative thoughts about Clive Owen since suffering his performance in "Closer", but this film was almost made for him - a very strong performance, and supporting actress Pam Ferris was a revelation, a million miles from "Darling Buds of May"! Julianne Moore was also a powerful presence, as was, inevitably, Michael Caine.
The only negative was the flagrant product placement by Philip Morris Inc, with the Clive Owen character chain-smoking Marlboro Lights in this future dystopia - seemed a little anachronistic to me, as the forthcoming public smoking ban in England will by then have seen the demise of cigarettes, to be replaced by Snus, Snuff and Nicotine Continuation Treatments (patches, gums, inhalators, and the new nicotine lollipops) as alternative delivery mechanisms for the drug nicotine - unless, like me, present day nicotine addicts attend Allen Carr's Easyway programme and get off the stuff permanently! I urge all IMDb readers to catch this movie if you can - truly one of the best of all time.