Well-crafted sci-fi parable mix of "Blade Runner" meets "12 Monkeys";Cuaron & Owen excel

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2007)

CHILDREN OF MEN (2006) ***1/2 Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Peter Mullan, Pam Ferris. Well-crafted sci-fi parable mix of "Blade Runner" meets "12 Monkeys" about the near-future with bleak outlook: the world is no longer a population explosion thanks to an unnamed reason for women to no longer give birth amidst the ongoing conflicts that have destroyed all of western civilization with Great Britain the last great hope going under. Owen gives a complex and excellent turn as a man faced with the impossible task of protecting a young woman whose miracle pregnancy may prove a ticket to his own salvation. Directed with panache by Alfonso Cuaron (who collaborated with 4 other screenwriters based on PD James' novel), the gritty you-are-there documentary style cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki makes it a too-close-for-comfort war-torn elegy.