Another dystopian future - another disappointment

Rating: 3/10 (23 April 2009)

Just like 'Franklyn,' 'I am Legend' and 'Waterworld' we are presented with a dystopian future, where all hell has broken loose with the lack of fertility amongst the world population. Only UK has survived in any normal sense - although the film begins with a CNN-like coverage of Princess Diana's death, sorry, Diego's(the youngest man on the planet)How has this been broadcast? - and yet it is filthy, run down, fascist, with violence and bombing an everyday experience. What would make a real picture would an in-depth investigation of how a society like this can still supply transport(trains), energy, computers etc without normal trading links - something I am sure Gordon Brown would like to know about! But no, this turns into a shoot em up chase movie with various nods to Arab/Israeli, Iraq conflicts and immigration. So, yes, an hour to set up this dystopian vision, in order to get Clive Owen heroically battling soldiers and terrorists to save the first child born in eighteen years without taking up a gun! Lots of realistic war zone footage, with even a miraculous pause in action as the miraculous child passes through the carnage!!! Sorry how this film can be praised, I don't know. If you have a futuristic society - make it work for us. Don't just show a few coal-fired power stations in the background on the south coast - all the coal is in the north of the UK- and put all the problems down to a mysterious flu epidemic in 2008. Take a chance, not fall for the predictable Hollywood, video game violence and sentimentality!