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Shelf Beauties |
Children of Men I went in
worried this would be another one of those apocalyptic movies with a
heavy
message that hits you across the face with the subtlety of a Rocky
Balboa right
hook, but, instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find a no frills,
good action
movie instead. Clive Owen stars
as Theodore – a broken, cynical man living in Only in Now, Theodore
has been contacted by Julian (Julieanne Moore) – a woman from
his past who
needs help. She is the leader of a rebel group that is protecting a
miracle - a
pregnant immigrant named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey).
While Julian wants to transport this lady to
safety, the situation is about as controversial and dangerous as you
can
imagine, and Theodore is the only person she truly trusts. Can they get Kee
to the scientists who will protect her, and possibly save humanity? Children
of Men
might be the most underappreciated movie of the year.
It doesn’t really have a political angle
(even though we see a conflict between immigrants and citizens). It doesn’t try
to save the world. It
just has some great actors, a good story
and some action that keeps you interested for 7/8ths of the movie. Director/co-writer Alfonso
Cuaron keeps Children
of Men moving at a quick
pace, but never sacrifices character
development to do so, which gives Owen a chance to vault himself to the
top
tier of actors working in the business.
Owen makes Theo
into the type of modern hero moviegoers want to see today. He’s not a
knight in shining armor as Owen
shows us how the man had his idealism destroyed, became a drinker, and
isn’t
interested in all of these ideological battles being waged around him. However, he finds a way to
show us how Theo
gets his humanity back as he fights to protect Kee and do something
that might
just change the course of history.
This
movie is about his rebirth as much as it is about finding hope for
mankind.
Throw in a great
supporting cast with Chiwetel Ejiofor playing a scheming #2 in
Julian’s
organization, Michael Caine as Theo’s hippie pal with a funny
outlook on life,
and Moore as the most unlikely of rebel leaders, and you have strong
movie that
is well worth going to see during your Christmas week, even though the
movie
seems to go on too long with just one too many little twists thrown in
towards
the end. 3 ½
Waffles (Out
Of 4) Children of Men is rated R for strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity.
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