Children of Men (2006)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 208
Fresh: 193 | Rotten: 15
Children of Men works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live. This taut and thought-provoking tale may not have the showy special effects normally found in movies of this genre, but you won't care one bit after the story kicks in, about a dystopic future where women can no longer conceive and hope lies within one woman who holds the key to humanity's survival. It will have you riveted.
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 47
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 4
Children of Men works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live. This taut and thought-provoking tale may not have the showy special effects normally found in movies of this genre, but you won't care one bit after the story kicks in, about a dystopic future where women can no longer conceive and hope lies within one woman who holds the key to humanity's survival. It will have you riveted.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 522,757
Movie Info
Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón returns to the helm to tell this futuristic tale in which society is without hope since humankind lost its ability to procreate. The year is 2027, and women can no longer give birth. The youngest inhabitant of the planet has just died at the age of 18, and all hope for humanity has been lost. As civilization descends into chaos, a dying world finds one last chance for survival in the form of a woman who has
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Cast
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Clive Owen
Theo Faron -
Julianne Moore
Julian Taylor -
Michael Caine
Jasper -
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Luke -
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Pam Ferris
Miriam -
Charlie Hunnam
Patric -
Danny Huston
Nigel -
Peter Mullan
Syd -
Oana Pellea
Marichka -
Paul Sharma
Ian -
Jacek Koman
Tomasz -
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Children of Men Trailer & Photos
All Critics (208) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (193) | Rotten (15) | DVD (37)
Cuaron fulfills the promise of futuristic fiction; characters do not wear strange costumes or visit the moon, and the cities are not plastic hallucinations, but look just like today, except tired and shabby.
Top CriticYou feel as if you're accompanying a war photographer who's lost a bet. Slogging unflinchingly through humanity's worst hours, the movie laces the narrative's forays into science-fiction grandstanding with a gut-wrenching dynamic.
What I find particularly irksome about it is its pseudo-humanism and its calculating political correctness.
It's a wow.
A superior sci-fi thriller and the best doomsday drama since 28 Days Later.
Despite the bleakness of its vision, Children of Men is also thrilling, both for its groundbreaking style (there are action sequences here unlike any filmed before) and its complex, vividly realized ideas.
Gripping, violent look at the future. Adults only.
For all its dystopian, violent fury, "Children of Men's" grace distinguishes itself the most - an all-encompassing embrace of humanity, community and perseverance and an optimistic ending that doesn't feel at all like a cheat.
A special film by a gifted filmmaker.
Few recent films have so stunned me in segments, and so frustrated me as a whole
Cuaron asks us to find hope in a grim nativity story where a reluctant hero and scared would-be mother try to find shelter in a land that desperately needs a newborn savior.
[Includes] the most exciting and emotionally exhausting car chase since The French Connection.
Children of Men is a glorious mess. It's a Frankenstein monster of a movie. Part sci-fi, part thriller, part action genre, part religious allegory, it flays and lumbers after meaning-- sending off occasional sparks of style.
Children of Men succeeds as a downbeat dystopian thriller with some intriguing themes.
Cuarón delights in marshaling his showpieces, like the finer details of Jim Clay and Geoffrey Kirkland's just-futuristic-enough production design, or, especially, camera operator George Richmond's agile enactment of Emmanuel Lubezki's moody cinematography
This is an astounding piece of work - easily one of the best films of 2006.
I was entranced by this movie. Hypnotized. Spellbound. In a thrall. The final quarter of the film is nothing short of an evolutionary leap forward in filmmaking.
A compelling and haunting look at a dystopian England.
It does the job, it does it well, and the fact that it's being called a masterpiece for doing so speaks unwell of the current state of movies.
There are enough ideas here that the film's never boring, and Mr. Cuarón's bravura direction is thrilling from start to finish.
Top-notch suspense, intense action and totally believable sci-fi combine to make Children of Men gripping and a big winner.
Goes beyond words in excellence...
The very soul of the film scoffs at the expectation of being conventional or formulaic.
As uncertain and spontaneous as its events are in the moment, Children of Men feels too tightly wound for its own good.
he only thing that strikes a false note here is...the final sequence (and a sound heard over the closing credits)... Otherwise a perfect film.
Audience Reviews for Children of Men
Super Reviewer
Movies Like Children of Men
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- Jasper: Yeah, there you go! Julian and Theo met among a million protesters in a rally by chance. But they were there because of what they believed in in the first place, their faith. They wanted to change the world. And their faith kept them together. But by chance, Dylan was born.
- Kee: This is him?
- Jasper: Yeah, that's him. He'd have been about your age. Magical child. Beautiful. Their faith put in praxis.
- Miriam: Praxis? What happened?
- Jasper: Chance. He was their sweet little dream. He had little hands, little legs, little feet. Little lungs. And in 2008, along came the flu pandemic. And then, by chance, he was gone. You see, Theo's faith lost out to chance. So, why bother if life's going to make its own choices?
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- Julian Taylor: Y'know that ringing in your ears? That 'eeeeeeeeee'? That's the sound of the ear cells dying, like their swan song. Once it's gone you'll never hear that frequency again. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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- Jasper: Pull my finger.
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- Theo Faron: It's a girl, Luke.
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- Theo Faron: Same as every other day. Woke up, felt like shit. Went to work, felt like shit.
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- Miriam: As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.
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Foreign Titles
- Les Fils de l'homme (FR)
Pull my finger. Exactly