Children of Men

Higgins · Dec 17, 2007

This is a great movie with great fight scenes and a lot more and the wiki is a great read. All-round greatness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men

Perks · Dec 17, 2007

I completely agree. That end battle should go in the battle thread. Excellent film.

David Erlewine · Dec 17, 2007

Loved it. The scene where Clive hears Michael Caine talking about him to the others is heartbreakingly well-done.

maxmordon · Dec 17, 2007

It's a great movie, and someone I know who read the books says that is even better than the book (originally it was that man couldn't produce sperm)

maestrowork · Dec 17, 2007

I loved the movie. The single long-shot war-zone scene was awe-inspiring. The whole film was kick-ass gritty. The ending was great.

Straka · Dec 17, 2007

maestrowork said:
I loved the movie. The single long-shot war-zone scene was awe-inspiring. The whole film was kick-ass gritty. The ending was great.

That battle was awesome. But personally I thought the ending was kind of lame. It felt force to me that he had to die like that in the boat. It’s not that I was overly attached to the character, but I suppose after watching a semi-realistic depiction of urban combat than transitioning to a classic ending bothered me. I've seen the ending before. Like in Omega Man, since I am Legend is out.

Overall though I really liked it.

seun · Dec 18, 2007

Loved it especially the 'Englishness' of the long battle scene.

brokenfingers · Dec 18, 2007

Children of Men is a definite classic.

maestrowork · Dec 18, 2007

Straka said:
That battle was awesome. But personally I thought the ending was kind of lame. It felt force to me that he had to die like that in the boat. It’s not that I was overly attached to the character, but I suppose after watching a semi-realistic depiction of urban combat than transitioning to a classic ending bothered me. I've seen the ending before. Like in Omega Man, since I am Legend is out.

Overall though I really liked it.

See, that's where I see it's contrived in IaL but natural for CoM. If the movie ended differently, people would say it was a cop-out happy ending or a forced tragic one. In IaL Neville was the hero -- "I could fix this" right at the beginning and what with all the other macho stuff -- even the movie is called I am Legend. But in CoM, Theo was more or less reluctant through and through and he never wanted to fix anything, so to me, that makes the ending poignant and not contrived.

dolores haze · Dec 18, 2007

Love the movie. Love the book. Love how different they are.
Did you ever finish the book, Maestro? I remember you were complaining about the info dumping.

andrewhollinger · Dec 18, 2007

The only thing I didn't like about the movie (and I didn't read the book) was how the story dropped at the end.

Now usually I enjoy letting the story end with a few things still up in the air: will they or won't they, whatever. But in CoM we see a humanity that is self-destructing. Sure, he gets the pregnant woman to her destination, but what then? The rest of the movie did not give me any hope to believe that humanity could or would survive.

seun · Dec 18, 2007

andrewhollinger said:
The rest of the movie did not give me any hope to believe that humanity could or would survive.

SPOILER:

What about the sound of children playing right at the end?

ChaosTitan · Dec 18, 2007

I'm not going to merge these yet, but another very in-depth discussion of this film also exists.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80913&highlight=Children+of+men

maestrowork · Dec 18, 2007

A fertile young woman with a child rescued by a World organization determined to bring humanity back? You bet there's hope at the end. The appearance of the boat coming out of the mist is very much a symbolism of hope, even as the hero dies. We don't need all the loose ends to tie up... and yeah, the sound of the children playing at the end...

Straka · Dec 18, 2007

maestrowork said:
See, that's where I see it's contrived in IaL but natural for CoM. If the movie ended differently, people would say it was a cop-out happy ending or a forced tragic one. In IaL Neville was the hero -- "I could fix this" right at the beginning and what with all the other macho stuff -- even the movie is called I am Legend. But in CoM, Theo was more or less reluctant through and through and he never wanted to fix anything, so to me, that makes the ending poignant and not contrived.

Omega man was much more contrived, specially.... SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

When he looked like Jesus, laying there in the fountain. Your point about his reluctance I agree with. It’s not a big deal but it just didn’t sit with me right.

Ending are a pain in the neck.

chartreuse · Dec 18, 2007

andrewhollinger said:
The only thing I didn't like about the movie (and I didn't read the book) was how the story dropped at the end.

Now usually I enjoy letting the story end with a few things still up in the air: will they or won't they, whatever. But in CoM we see a humanity that is self-destructing. Sure, he gets the pregnant woman to her destination, but what then? The rest of the movie did not give me any hope to believe that humanity could or would survive.

Could, would, or SHOULD survive. As you said, they were self-destructing; sometimes you have to wonder if we're really worth saving.

That being said, the ending didn't bother me - I preferred it to some neat tie-off that didn't leave anything to the imagination.

Straka · Dec 18, 2007

andrewhollinger said:
The only thing I didn't like about the movie (and I didn't read the book) was how the story dropped at the end.

Now usually I enjoy letting the story end with a few things still up in the air: will they or won't they, whatever. But in CoM we see a humanity that is self-destructing. Sure, he gets the pregnant woman to her destination, but what then? The rest of the movie did not give me any hope to believe that humanity could or would survive.

I'm actually starting to like books that leave plots unanswered. Sometimes it feels artifical when everything wraps up so neatly right as exams and the end of the school year come around, like in Harry Potter. One of the things I liked about Wicked and Son of a Witch is that it left plotlines unanswered and you never got a resolution. To me that made it that much more of a tradegy.

Children of Men

Higgins

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

David Erlewine

maxmordon

Penúltimo

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Straka

Bored Fanatic

seun

Horror Man

brokenfingers

Walkin' That Road

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

andrewhollinger

practical experience, FTW

seun

Horror Man

ChaosTitan

Around

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Straka

Bored Fanatic

chartreuse

Straka

Bored Fanatic