Worth watching for the atmosphere alone.

I am also reading the book as we speak… I suppose I should have finished it before watching the movie. The differences are quite significant. I won’t spoil anything but I do reccomend if anyone liked the movie the should most definitely read the book. Still – an amazing movie and an amazing book. Staggering.

i almost didn’t see this movie because i’m a wuss when it comes to watching violent and intense movies…but i’m SO glad i did.

the movie is terribly realistic and plays with your attention span a lot. there are headlines and clips about what happened to humanity in order for it to get to the point where people had ceased being able to breed (nuclear war, bird flu, chemical spills, etc.)

i enjoy the vagueries (is that a word??) of this movie and how by the end of the movie you are gripping your seat for almost 20 minutes. the directing is AWESOME…there’s one shot in the movie that follows clive owen running his ass off as a wave of bullets and mortars explode all around him for almost 10 minutes straight…fantastic editing and shooting.

my only complaint is that they could have developed clive owen’s character a leeeetle bit more and the not so subtle metaphor of the main female character’s name (Kee) kinda hit you over the head…

all in all a realllly good movie

although it was good film, and an interesting look into what some people think is a possibility for humanity, and I loved the cinematography, I don’t know but it wasn’t quite as good as I thought it would be.

Glad I watched it, but not one I would go out of my way to see again. Clive Owen was good though, he should have been Bond.

Have any of you read the book? How do the book and movie compare? Does the book go into more detail?

I ask because my partner and I agree that it feels like the movie was missing some important pieces of the story that perhaps were included in the book? For example, if humanity can’t have any children, then why the xenophobia? Why the complete disregard for life? Why all the killing? One would assume that a catastrophic event such as humanity not being able to procreate would make people (and governments) value life more. So, perhaps I am missing the point. I get that the movie explores the current actions of the U. S. and British governments taken to dystopian extremes. I get the message that all of us should be willing to sacrifice everything for the life of a child. I get that all of the parties in the film – the government, the activists, the proletariat, the work-a-day drones – continue to do what they do without question because, well, that is what they do. I just don’t get why human life isn’t valued more by all of the aforementioned parties. So, does anyone have any thoughts about this?

By the way, I think one of the most effective little scenes in the movie is in the abandoned train station (or whatever it is) when the Julianne Moore character mentions the high frequency sound and says something along the lines of, “Hear that sound? Well, enjoy it while you can because eventually you will become deaf to it and then you won’t be able to hear that frequency at all anymore.” Theo is one of the few who can still perceive that something is terribly wrong with the status quo. He hasn’t been totally assimilated yet and so Julian is able to pull him out of the greyness of his life, to convince him to risk everything, to try to make a difference.

Going into the theatre to see it is quite the experience. It’s like getting softly punched in the face for two hours straight- not necessarily a bad thing. This film was amazing, a spectacle! This movie reminds us all what good films can do- it has the power to make you think and question your moral values and to transform your life. The bar has been raised and now a new standard has been set. Go watch it now while its still in theatres.

I don’t regret having watched this film at all, which I guess sounds like pretty weak praise, but I’m still not having any strong feelings about it either way. I’m not sure if tense moments and chase scenes make up for lazy acting and sub-par storytelling. Nonetheless, I was entertained, and if that had been the only alleged point of the film then I guess it would have gotten another star or so from me.

I want to hang out at Jasper’s house for a little while.

delightfully vague, bracing & immediate, bleak but still hopeful.

This is not a good movie. It certainly appears like it’s a good movie. It’s got good direction, a good cast and crew, excellent cinematography, and plenty of drama…but it’s missing one huge piece: a story that’s interesting.

This review contains spoilers, which doesn’t really matter, since the plot summaries you read pretty much sum up the entire story, so don’t worry about being spoiled here.

The plot is that women have become infertile (and no one knows why). This terrorist group known as the “Fish” have found a pregnant girl and they’re trying to transport her to a safe place. Enter Clive Owen, who is apparently the ex-husband of the terrorist group, who is asked to help out, and ends up having to do all the work by himself.

I don’t really mind that we don’t know why women have become infertile. That’s not the problem. The problem with this movie is that I just don’t give a damn about the girl carrying the baby or that they’re trying to save her (and not just because she’s a bad actor).

A lot of movies use humor to get you to care about the characters. This movie does the same, but the jokes are bad. Seriously…a “pull my finger” joke? The fart jokes in Y Tu Mama Tambien were much better. Yes, lets have this lovable character with bad jokes and then kill him so you feel sorry for him. And make sure he doesn’t leave his house…doesn’t even try to hide. Where’s the fun in that? Oh, and did anyone notice how the road changed from the start of the movie when Clive Owen went to visit him to how suddenly there was this perfect lookout point later in the movie where he can see him die? Jesus Christ that’s forced.

And did you notice that they killed off Julliane Moore right when she was doing the “yuck it up in front of the camera to make the people love you” act? Yes…of course. Even at the end when Clive Owen died they had to actually take 15 seconds to give him a bit of personality so you liked him. What a pattern.

This movie just has no direction. It’s going nowhere. So what if they found a girl with a baby? Does that “save” mankind? We don’t even really know what’s going on because none of it is explained. If you’re going to try to make me believe this kid is going to make the world a better place then don’t just tell me. It’s like trying to sell me on the bible. Prove it happened. Prove anything in that book happened…and when you can, I’ll believe in Children of Men, too.