Children of Men - Clive Owen's great but...

Rating: 7/10 (13 January 2007)

...not even the fantastic Clive Owen and superb Michael Caine can make this movie work to the level that I'm guessing the Producers initially envisioned. The concept and storyline is great but - the finished movie does not work - it lacks "flow". I know this sounds harsh but my sense is that the director did not give the actors sufficient attention and was probably more preoccupied with technical aspects of explosions and logistics. The "extras" in the crowd scenes were all "over-emoting and over-acting" and in the face of having to work with poorly directed actors, I don't know how Clive Owen kept a straight face at times. The movie suffers as a result as although I am a huge fan of the main actors, I was very disappointed with this movie. The choice of music throughout (except for the rock music which was great) was completely wrong for this film - it did not connect with the visuals at all. Normally I NEVER talk through a movie and save my comments for afterward with friends, but we were all fidgeting and muttering comments throughout because there were parts which just did not even fit together. Poor direction and perhaps poor editing, not sure, as an editor can only edit what's there. And the key scenes are all very unconvincing. The locations were pretty good and captured the cold, wet English environment. Don't want to be more specific as it will spoil the action etc. Good news: for me it was worth sitting through it just to see another incredible performance by Clive Owen and an equally amazing performance by Michael Caine.