Children of Men

Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Children of Men was made in 2006 and was first shown at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in early 2007, whereby having seen the trailer I thought it looked like a watchable and interesting film so I went to see it with a friend. As the titles rolled the name of the movie appeared and introduced the background to the story that would follow. When it ended my friend asked me what I thought of it and I said it was good and when she asked what bit I liked my reply came, "all of it" when really I was lying.

The truth of the matter is that I had fallen asleep in the movie theatre, the only bits remembered was Clive Owen's character meeting up with Julianne Moore's Character whereby they are both freedom fighters wanting to protect this woman who is pregnant, supposedly in a world where there has been no conception due to a virus. However, the film was shown again at the Aberystwyth Students union and I was determined to give it another try, so I sat there again to watch the film, managing to get a bit further. There were a few touch and go moments but I managed to keep awake for the entire film which was quite an achievement.

I would not class this as a bad movie, the only real problem was the way it had been directed, the shots were overly long and the camera movements were jumpy and unfocused. Also the use of music was mimimal, due to personal preference music is an important part of a film in order to convey emotions and get the audience to feel for the piece. However in terms of acting Clive Owen gives an exceptional performance and is helped by the ever reliable and brilliant Michael Caine, but I felt that Julianne Moore was undervalued as she is an amazing actress but this film did not stretch her acting talents.

Over all, this is an alright film and if you want to see a slow paced mystery of why the world has become infertile then go and see it but personally the trailer was misleading and I would rather watch paint dry. In addition click on the link above to take you to IMDB.