Children of Men

Set in the year 2027, the world is coming to an end. There are wars and uprisings all over the world, there is disease and starvation, and most of the governments have collapsed. All because there are no more children being born. The youngest of the people Baby Diego (Juan Yacuzzi) was just knifed down and killed and that has left the world in shock.

In London Theo Faron (Clive Owen) couldn't care less. He has become disillusioned with the world, as has much of the rest of the world.  But he uses it as an excuses to get out of work early and heads over to his friend's Jasper's (Michael Cane) place hidden in the forest.  I guess Jasper's into black market stuff, or something. Anyway when Theo gets back to London he is kidnapped by activists. These activists are led by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) and they are trying to stop the exportation of illegal immigrants (called fugies) among other stuff.  They never go into the rest of it, or if they did I missed it. Anyway she comes to him for help to get papers for a fugie girl they need to get out of London. He agrees only because he needs the money and gets the papers from his cousin, but he has to accompany them. As they are leaving they are attacked by a bunch of marauders and Julian is killed. The driver, Luke (Chiwetel Eijofor), gets them out of there and to a safe place.

Theo is ready to leave but the fugie, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), shows him that she is pregnant and she needs his help. He agrees to help her and discovers that Luke had Julian killed because he wants to use the baby for political reason while Julian was trying to get Kee to the Human Project. They could keep her safe and try to use her to find out how to reverse the infertility in women.  Theo takes Kee and Miriam (Pam Ferris), a mid-wife, and brings them to Jasper's place to hide out. He hands them over to Syd (Peter Mullan), before Luke and the gang find and kills Jasper. Syd brings them to Bexhill which is a refugee camp (i.e. ghetto) where they can find a boat and make it to the buoy where the Human Project's boat will meet them.  Unfortunately Miriam is killed by the British version of the Gestapo and Kee is going into labour.  The next day the activists break into Bexhill to try and get the baby and there is an all and all out battle between the activists and the military, with Kee and Theo caught in the middle.

The movie ends with Kee and Theo making it to a boat and meeting up with the Tomorrow, the Human Project's boat, but Theo was shot and is possibly dead. I have no idea.

That's the theme for this movie: I have no idea. I was completely lost for most of this movie.  I get that the world is in chaos because there are no more children, but if the population of your country is dwindling, do you think that deportation of all illegal immigrants is going to help? Seriously, did no one think that maybe what you should be doing is making them citizens so you actually have a work force to keep the country running smoothly instead of shoving them into ghettos and shooting them? Did that not cross anyone's mind at all? That maybe we shouldn't be helping the world population fall any faster? Apparently not. 

I don't even know what to say about this movie. It was like we were dropped into the middle of a story and assaulted by the brutal reality that is London in 2027 and let loose.  Nothing really made sense to me in this film.  I have no idea why the world is so messed up. I have no idea why there was a scene with someone walking around with zebra as a pet. I have no idea what was up with Theo's cousin or his son. I have no idea why Jasper was hiding in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea what he was talking about for most of the movie. I have no idea who the Human Project are. I have no idea what the activists were up to. I have no idea how people got goats and oranges and boats in the refugee camp.

It's a shame because the acting was exceptional and the special effects were great and everything was dilapidated and gritty , but there was something holding me back from actually letting myself being immersed in this film. There was something that stopped me from actually believing that that world was real. For a movie to work, the audience must believe that setting and the stasis is true, but I didn't and I don't know why.

Grade: 5/10