CHILDREN OF MEN
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One of the movies that opened last holiday season that I really wanted to see and didn’t get a chance to was Children of Men.
It is a science-fiction tale set on Earth and not in space. The storyline is that no human births have occurred for 18 years. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine are the stars. Alfonso Cuaron who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabon is the director and one of the screenwriters. The story was based on a novel by mystery writer P.D. James. The film received solid reviews. On the mega-critic site it averaged an 84. It was compared to the classic Blade Runner. My kind of movie.
The week it was released on DVD I picked up a copy at Blockbuster.
Now I’ve seen it. This movie sucked with the force of a hurricane. I have to wonder if the people who are raving about it saw the same film I did. I should have had a clue when there were five screenwriters listed. That is usually a bad sign. It was again. Maybe the fact that the movie has a “message” means the critics have to like it or they are unworthy. The world setting makes no sense. Info is tossed out with no explanations. The symbolism is so heavy-handed that it is laughable. Let’s see (a few examples): Owen’s character is named Theo which means, “divine gift” and the pregnant woman is named Kee which needs no explanation. Theo is wounded in the hand, foot and side. Wonder what symbolism that represents? And the final scene is so lame that it could have only been saved by having the song “Tomorrow” from Annie being sung. The imprisonment of illegal aliens is an intriguing idea but not as presented here. I could go on but there’s no point. Very few science-fiction films (not sci-fi and there is a difference) are made and this movie is one of the reasons why.
In the style of Children of Men, my review of this film would be summed up by the picture of a bull in a field and the animal is taking a dump.
It is a science-fiction tale set on Earth and not in space. The storyline is that no human births have occurred for 18 years. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine are the stars. Alfonso Cuaron who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabon is the director and one of the screenwriters. The story was based on a novel by mystery writer P.D. James. The film received solid reviews. On the mega-critic site it averaged an 84. It was compared to the classic Blade Runner. My kind of movie.
The week it was released on DVD I picked up a copy at Blockbuster.
Now I’ve seen it. This movie sucked with the force of a hurricane. I have to wonder if the people who are raving about it saw the same film I did. I should have had a clue when there were five screenwriters listed. That is usually a bad sign. It was again. Maybe the fact that the movie has a “message” means the critics have to like it or they are unworthy. The world setting makes no sense. Info is tossed out with no explanations. The symbolism is so heavy-handed that it is laughable. Let’s see (a few examples): Owen’s character is named Theo which means, “divine gift” and the pregnant woman is named Kee which needs no explanation. Theo is wounded in the hand, foot and side. Wonder what symbolism that represents? And the final scene is so lame that it could have only been saved by having the song “Tomorrow” from Annie being sung. The imprisonment of illegal aliens is an intriguing idea but not as presented here. I could go on but there’s no point. Very few science-fiction films (not sci-fi and there is a difference) are made and this movie is one of the reasons why.
In the style of Children of Men, my review of this film would be summed up by the picture of a bull in a field and the animal is taking a dump.
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