Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore

The Plot:

  Set in London roughly twenty years into the future, Children of Men explores a world were humans, and presumably most other animals, are rendered infertile. Theo Faron (Clive Owen), a former activist turned squeaky clean, respectable Londoner, is pulled into a world of terrorism and intrigue as his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore) reveals that one of the refugees (illegal immigrants that are actively trying to get into the U.K.) her militant group is helping, is in fact pregnant. 
  With that bit of good news things go from bad to worse. People around Theo begin dying left and right at the hands of terrorists or the military that is trying to track them down. Not knowing who to trust, Theo and the mother-to-be, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), turn to one of Theo’s old friends Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine) for help. Jasper devises a way for Theo and Kee to get past security checkpoints and make it to the sea where there is a promise of hope by the Human Project, a group of scientists dedicated to solving humanity’s problems of infertility.

The Point:

  While it doesn’t sound like it, even in my own description, Children of Men is almost like a war movie. Don’t get me wrong this movie is a far cry from Patton, but it does show some pretty heavy military action and some downright grisly war/action sequences, even if they are frequently shown blurry and obscured.
  Clive Owen, once again, turns in a typically mundane and lukewarm performance. I don’t know what it is about this guy, but in my opinion he just can’t seem to find his stride as an actor. There are a few scenes in which he does pretty well, but most of the time he just seems out of place. Maybe this is by design, but it seems to happen in nearly every movie I’ve seen from him.
  Owen aside, most of the other performers do a splendid job including the relatively inexperienced Claire-Hope Ashitey as Kee. Michael Caine as Jasper Palmer, the pot farming, reclusive poet or whatever he is, does a tremendous job and his reliability as a great actor who knows his material and fits right into the scene is in direct inverse proportion to Clive Owens. This is most pronounced in their scenes together as Owens comes off as a rank amateur. 
  Finally, Children of Men presents some interesting ideas on what the world might be like if all women became infertile. In one particularly interesting siege scene involving the military and some terrorists, we even see how humanity might react to the sight of a baby after an 18-year absence of the pitter patter of little feet.
  With some pretty graphic violence, a no-holds-bared birth scene and some strongly worded language, parents are encouraged to heed the rating on this movie.