Slightly flawed yet thrilling action dystopia

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2011)

What I liked:

The directing and editing: amazing job by Cuarón. This is an outstanding directorial and editing achievement. There is mastery in every scene. This, together with the superb production design, totally succeeds. The dystopian 2027 England that comes out of the picture is just frightening. It made me think of Boyle's "28 Days Later", a movie that is similar to "Children" in many respects. However "Children" is superior to "28" in almost all regards and certainly Cuarón achieved finer directing than Boyle. Take e.g. some amazing scenes. Those with the Fishes ambushing the car and the escape from the Fishes' country house with Theo pushing the car etc., what astounding pieces of action film! Surprise, rhythm, camera perspective from Theo's point of view, with the attackers close, then far, then close again, then gone: perfect! And of course, a lectio magistralis in long takes: the scene at Bexhill with Theo escaping from certain death into the besieged building to retrieve the baby: hats off, again! (Although Cuaron here is too self-assured in showing how good he is and ends up getting the obvious wrong: I was distracted at the silliness of Ejiofor talking of how nice is to hear a baby's voice while bullets are hitting the wall one inch from his head). And of course the emotional moment of the three fugitives walking through the suddenly silent and astonished guerrilla.

The sheer level of detail that is put in every scene. Tens and tens of small clues or secondary dramatic elements lurk in every shot and enrich it. Far from creating useless distraction, they add flavour and meaning to the movie. See e.g. all these animals that appear and disappear, like dogs and sheep. Same goes for the graffiti, the newspaper clippings, the props, the furniture.

Clive Owen: I am not a big fan of Owen's but this time he got it right. He is convincing in the action scenes, where he does a good physical job but manages to understate the action and thus gives it credibility, as his character is not a super-hero type. He also gets it right in the dialogue scenes and builds nicely on the relationships with Caine, Moore and Ashitey.

The London 2012 jumper: sublime touch. It was the future, it will soon be the present, in the movie the Games are far past, no more than a reason to keep memorabilia in the wardrobe. Plus, how chilling to think that in fictive 2012 the sterility epidemics was already widespread. What could have been the resulting climate during an event that is supposed to celebrate peace among the peoples and the dignity of the human being?

What I did not like:

The implausibility of the plot: a major problem here. I just can't get it. So, for reasons unknown, Kee is pregnant and is going to give birth. In the first place, it is never explained why she does not go public and tells the authorities. OK, it is an evil dystopian society, but I am sure she would have got safer by doing so rather than escaping under the menace of being shot down. Ah, because she is an immigrant. I still don't get it (Theo states something about this in the movie but to no avail: why?). And then, why this conflict among Fishes and Theodore? He wants to bring the baby to the boat, because this was Julian's wish. But again, why would Kee accept to do it, if she runs the risk to die together with her baby? The promise of the boat and the "Human Project" seems too vague and unconvincing.

The ending: just adds up to more implausibility. A meeting with a fishing boat at a buoy off a Channel harbour... I am sorry, but this is not credible! How could the fugitives be there on schedule? A boat approaching a buoy in the mist is not like the 2pm train to Clapham... So they get there, just in time for Theo to die and, like one minute later, the boat to show up. Of course Theo manages to steer a small rowboat right to the buoy in the thick fog. (Although I guess that the choice of having this meeting at sea and having the small rowboat in it does have some figurative, poetical reasons).

Ashitey/Kee: especially in her early scenes, her acting is poor and she spoils them ("Wicked!").

The music: most of the '70s music just does not fit. I do not understand why Cuarón would choose this, instead of a solid, original score. Or just more silence, maybe it would have helped as well.

What I don't know whether I liked:

Michael Caine. I love him, but does he get it right here? I am note sure, maybe they should not have had him wearing that silly wig in the first place. Yes, long hair tells us straight away that he is a hippie, but there were a lot of other clues to it. So we have this silly old good man jumping around Owen and saying things about faith and destiny, but I am still not sure to what purpose. And yet... and yet Caine is Caine, he is likable even with the stupid wig.

All in all, this movie is a consistent, brilliant, raw yet understated piece of action-packed dystopia with a depressingly convincing depiction of the very close future and some interesting, if hardly noticeable, takes on the world of our days, including mass immigration, the role of nations, the clash of civilizations, the meaning of (bearing) life and, ultimately, the sense that the human species gives to the universe.