Leaden exposition and bad acting

Rating: 4/10 (24 September 2006)

It's an interesting premise and the future society, where Britain is practically the last nation still standing, is well realised. This should be a really good movie. But the leaden script, laden with exposition, and some truly bad acting in most of the supporting roles, combine to ruin this film. Claire-Hope Ashitey does well as a terrified young woman carrying the future of the world (literally), but Chiwetel Ejiofor and Peter Mullan, the best of the rest, have such dreadful roles, and everyone else delivers their lumpen lines with such lack of conviction that the whole thing sinks beneath their weight.
As an example, a scene in which Theo, played by Clive Owen, realises that the young woman (Ashitey) he has promised to protect is being double-crossed by the people she trusts could have been achieved in about 30 seconds of screen time but instead it goes on for what feels like an eternity, clubbing the viewer over the head with exposition. "We killed ****!" "We're going to kill ******!" "Then we'll take over the world!" All that's missing is a "bwah hah hahhhhh!" and an evil twirl of the moustache from the villain of the piece.
Very disappointing and not a little frustrating. In the hands of another director and a writer with less of a tin ear this could have been a gripping vision of a glimmer of hope in a future nightmare world.