A Confused, Disjointed Mess (Some Spoilers)

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2007)

Based, extremely loosely, on the P.D. James novel by the same name, I went to this movie with my wife hoping/expecting much more than we received. While any director is allowed artistic license with a movie, Alfonso Cuaron essentially eviscerates the novel and leaves us with a jumbled mess that leaves one wondering "what the hell was the director REALLY trying to tell me with this movie"?
There is little character development, little explanation of the "whys" of the situation, needless conspiracy plots and other issues that, in totality, ruin this movie. We both admire Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine and their efforts in this movie are wasted.
Cuaron omits or changes parts of the novel that would have added to the movie and one who has read the book immediately wonders why. For example, Quietus is not a suicide product in the book, it is a form of government-enforced mass suicide (think of the "bring out your dead" scene in The Holy Grail, but not funny). Theo's cousin is not a "minister;" he's the dictator of England. There are so many other examples that it seems Cuaron's ego got in the way when adapting the book to a screenplay that just ruin the movie that could have been made.
The L.A. Times critic labeled the movie "the Blade Runner of the 21st Century." What rot! There is nothing groundbreaking about this movie. There could have been if the novel had been followed just a bit more, if the characters had been a little more true to the novel and if the desperate, hopeless feeling that permeated the book had translated to the screen. Using government-enforced violence, a re-creation of the Abu Ghraib prison photo, and other attempts to make a political statement about current events in a movie based in the future and the premise of which is centered on procreation and the absence of it ever occurring again due to, seemingly, universal sterility clouds the message and, effectively, stops the hopelessness from translating to the screen.
Additionally, the topless scene in the movie is gratuitous. The important thing is not Kee's nude breasts, rather it is the swollen belly that is primary. The long scenes with her hands covering her breasts are just as effective as the two second shot of her breasts.
I give the movie a 6 out of 10 because it IS beautifully shot and framed, for the most part. As someone mentioned, the blood splatters left on the camera keep the violence in your face and on your mind. The actor's are superb overall in the delivery of their lines and the mood they impart, but the script is such a jumbled mess that any ability to make the viewer feel the mood to any level other than superficially is lost. Again, I fault Cuaron. Perhaps doing the screenplay, directing and editing were too much for him, or perhaps it's just that this movie fails to translate the novel to the screen effectively leaving anyone with knowledge of the book saying to themselves "what a waste of a fine book, fine actors and a fine opportunity to make something special."