No Children, No Future, No Hope
Children of Men. Wow. Just wow. Sure, it’s a futuristic thriller created to satisfy an unquenchable need for the “world gone mad” scenario… but more so, it’s a strong commentary of how a world that has no future would function. Scary.
Clive Owen and Julianne Moore were fantastic in the film, but the real highlight of the film was its direction. Ben from ArsTechnica’s Opposable Thumbs (my former writing gig) said it best:
Our Opposable Thumbs alumnus Elle clued me in: “That scene was totally out of Half-Life 2, wasn’t it?” That was it! In my mind I was thinking of Gears of War, but Half-Life 2 fit as well. The shaky camera that has one continuous view of the action, following one man bobbing and weaving through the bullets and the carnage, made me feel like I was looking at a war game. It turns the movie into something of a third-person shooter in places.
There was a point in the film where Clive’s character was dodging bullets, sneaking around corners, which was quite reminiscent of “look around the corner” shots that have been so popular in recent video games… i.e. Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid 2, Gears of War and the latest iteration of the Rainbow Six series. Awesome.
I didn’t give it much of a chance when I first heard the premise, as I thought it would follow cliche after cliche… but I was dead wrong. It surpassed any “good” expectations I had and overall, it was a great film. Definitely one of the better action films I’ve seen in quite a while.
Highly recommended. 
~Spec
