I was completely blown away!

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2007)

At first this movie reminded me of a mix of "V for Vendetta", Vietnam war protest era, and "28 days later" (minus zombies obviously). But it was clear to me from the first "Long-shot" scene that this movie was unlike any other. It far surpasses "V for Vendetta" and any message that movie could ever hope to make. They use a very amazing camera technique where they film these stunning scenes without ever cutting, it's just one complete shot and the choreography is so brilliant and the way the camera moves fluidly within the scene. I knew right then from that first scene how brilliant the director, Alfonso Cuarón is. Sure, he did a fantastic job with the look and feel of Prisoner of Azkaban, but this is just completely on another level.
How to describe this movie? It's a desperate end of the world type situation where, much like V for Vendetta, Britain is the last standing civil nation among the world with all other world powers falling into disarray within the near future of our time line. Humanity has lost the ability to reproduce and people are just waiting around to die out amidst chaos and futileness. We see Britain, much like a Nazi Germany state, where "Homeland Security" is top priority as every last illegal alien is hunted down and transported to camps. We see martial law abound and advertising reflects much of what the government is trying to control. All throughout the movie you can see tidbits of news from the past 20 years which echoes of "Bush's War" and "Bring our Troops Home" leading up to the great decline of society and mankind. We see terror groups in Britain bombing the populace to get their agenda across, then find out that the government is really behind the bombings in order to control the populace through fear. We see internment camps and Guantanamo-style prisons where prisoners strongly reflect photos seen in Abu Ghraib. The very last scene of the movie is about a 20-minute long "one shot" scene of just pure anxiety and emotions. It follows Clive Owen through this harrowing escape as he's navigating his way through war torn streets, militants shouting "Allah Akbar", things blowing up everywhere, people being shot, and utter chaos. How they managed to shoot this whole scene in one take is completely beyond me. But the camera style of following right next to his body and having the camera peer out from behind cover reminds much of a First Person Shooter type game, immersing the audience in the story. Christ, the last half hour of the movie was nerve-wracking, I was sitting in my seat shaking, with my stomach twisted in knots. The theater I was had such a good sound system that when the British Army were firing their tanks into building, you could feel the explosion in your body. It was just... jaw-dropping! The music is brilliant Vietnam War era backdrop which provides a very strong social commentary for the film.
Overall, this movie has some really strong messages about current events in the world today and sends across a very strong message, for those who are intelligent enough to understand it's meaning.