Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Based on the story by P.D. James, Children of Men is set in the near 
future, but there are no flying cars, comedy aliens or murderous robots 
here. This is a world which seems disturbingly possible. In a drab 
London, the population is kept in place by heavily armed and armoured police 
while paranoia-inducing slogans flicker across screens on buildings and 
dilapidated buses. Inside train carriage the TV screens urge the 
turning in of foreigners "she was my maid, he was my builder, she was my 
cousin, he was my friend - they are illegal", while outside an angry mob 
hurls rocks at the mesh-covered carriage windows. That the commuters on 
the train seem barely to notice the attack, or the cages holding 
arrested immigrants that line the station platform, almost bored at its 
predictability, is a chilling thought. 

The film is set in 2027, a world where no children have been born for 18 years, where England is under threat from a terrorist group known as The Fishers, a world where all immigrants are illegal and housed in giant "camps" - basically left to their own devices fenced in inside crumbling old towns, a world which seems to be crashing down in a slow and resigned fashion. Theodore Faron (Clive Owen) - once an activist, now a drifting jaded through white collar existence - is captured by The Fishers (including old flame Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore)) who plan to use his family connections to secure safe passage of a young woman to the South coast. They hop to rendezvous with The Human Project, a semi-mythical group of scientists said to be working on the Azores, hoping to find the solution to the pregnancy problem.

Director Cuarón obviously enjoys directing literary adaptations, having previously worked on "Great Expectations" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", and here he creates a wonderfully downbeat portrait of an England on the brink. A breathtaking rescue mission staged during the army's assault on a refugee town, surely the most realistic gun battle on film since Saving Private Ryan, even sees blood splatter onto the camera lens during one impressively long take, drawing the viewer even further into the action.

There is fine acting throughout ; Owen brings a laconic determination to his role ; Michael Caine is delightful as Theodore's woods-dwelling friend Jasper Palmer, an ageing rebel who grows his own weed ("Strawberry Cough") and sells it to refugee camp guard Syd (a well cast Peter Mullan) ; Claire-Hope Ashitey plays her role with a satisfying mix of teenage petulance and a strong will to survive; Moore is on good form as Owen's ex, the two of them toying with the feelings which they once shared. The use of music is also well thought out, in particular a cover of "Ruby Tuesday" which complements one touching scene perfectly.

A very dour movie for sure, but one which does not follow a predictable path, and has several welcome comic touches to offset the despair and violence.