Children of Men

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Did anyone else see this movie? We just watched it on DVD, and I thought it was really good. The last hour or so felt like watching an episode of Half-Life.. pretty crazy. There don't seem to be too many movies that can really combine good writing, acting, action and a "message" well.

[Nick Koan]

I loved the movie. A lot of people I've been talking to said it wasn't as good the second time through though. I'm going to wait another month or two and watch it again to see.

Anyway, yeah the camera work is pretty good. It kind of gives the movie a more documentary feel at points (especially in the ending sequence).

I want to say more, but I also don't want to ruin it for people whom haven't seen it yet.

[khail19]

Saw it in the theaters, great movie. One of my recent favorites for sure. It's one of those movies that actually makes you think about life and what might be ahead in the future.

[eggeegg]

I liked it in the theatres but probably wouldn't watch it again for a couple months. They did a really good job filming the action sequences towards the end of the movie. armpits got a little sweaty watching.

[sperry]

I liked it, and thought the premise was fantastic, but I think it really missed an opportunity to have a message. I was left feeling like "what's the point"? Maybe I missed the point... but really I think if they were attempting social commentary, they didn't get it across because the premise is so dramatically different from real life that who know what society would do if it were real.

...that probably sounds totally confusing 'cause I'm trying not to spoil it for any who didn't see it.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

See, I thought the message was more of a general warning about where society at large is headed, possibly even in the near future. I actually liked that they didn't really get into specifics about the "how" & "why" things had crashed, I think if they had it would have seemed too preachy.

There were some great moments illustrating human nature in it too, like when he brought the mother & baby out of the building during the uprising; just the sight & sound of the upset baby totally stopped the fighting cold for a minute... but once they started walking away all it took was one random shot and the fighting instantly started raging again just like before. People can recognize important things when it's staring them in the face, but our attention spans are short and we forget easily...

[JonnydaJibba]

I've heard very good things about it. And now you guys. I'll have to pick it up.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

See, I thought the message was more of a general warning about where society at large is headed, possibly even in the near future. I actually liked that they didn't really get into specifics about the "how" & "why" things had crashed, I think if they had it would have seemed too preachy.

There were some great moments illustrating human nature in it too, like when he brought the mother & baby out of the building during the uprising; just the sight & sound of the upset baby totally stopped the fighting cold for a minute... but once they started walking away all it took was one random shot and the fighting instantly started raging again just like before. People can recognize important things when it's staring them in the face, but our attention spans are short and we forget easily...

But the idea that mankind went sterile is soooo big of a deal, I don't know that I can take any real overall message from the movie about society in general. The whole reason the world went to shit in that movie is because of an event so powerful that anything in there world doesn't map to ours all that easily.

Now if they had tried to make some connection with genetic engineering or something to mankind's infertility, then they might have a case for a "stop GE or else" point, but then it would have been a lame movie.

I much prefer stories like 1984 where you could make a direct extrapolation from current society into the negative utopia and say "yeah, I could see that happening".