Truly Phenomenal

Rating: 10/10 (1 October 2006)

I saw this film two evenings ago, and was fully blown away. Not only was Children of Men the intelligent, "thinky" movie I was expecting, it was also a balls-to-the-wall action thriller of the highest.
It is quite easily Clive Owen's best performance to date, casting him as the truly believable Theo, playing opposite Clare Ashitey's Kee for a large portion of the film. The chemistry between the two is unexpected, but creates a truly brilliant sense of camaraderie in their race to "save mankind" (sort of...) Michael Caine deftly brings us Jasper, Theo's pot smoking ally, and Julianne Moore's Julian was, while surprisingly short-lived, a joy to watch. Chiwetel Ejiofor is equally good in his deeply sinister role as Luke.
Now, having dispensed with the usual gushy stuff about actors, I feel I should extol the pure genius of Alfonso Cuarón. This man is actually a genius. Properly. Alongside Mike Leigh's 1993 indie-classic "Naked", this is the most expertly put together movie I have ever seen. Every single shot screams "this was really, really thought about!", and the action scenes are fantastic. There's a sequence towards the end of the film, and i'm pretty certain there was around 10 minutes of the film taken in a single, hand held shot. It felt oddly like i was playing Call of Duty, and following Clive Owen around. I felt truly overjoyed that someone was doing hand-held filming properly: while it retains the pace and energy an audience is looking for, none of the film's clarity or meaning was lost, unlike so many other action films of late (need I mention the truly dire camera work in Miami Vice?) I can't express truly how brilliant this film is; all I can say is GO AND SEE IT! NOW!