So we finally got round to watching Children of Men last night as we taped it off the telly on our sky box thingy months ago, and oh my is it good. OK so the plot is a bit predictable, and some of the dialogue and acting could be better but the direction is sweet. A great attention to detail in the art direction (check out the 2012 Olympics jumper worn towards the end of the film by Clive and the Guantanamo Bay pastiche in the ‘fugee center) along with massive long hand held single shot action sequences make for a genuinely believable vision of the future. There are no sweeping CG aerial camera angles of cityscapes, people don’t all listen to ambient trance, America has blown up, nothing flys that shouldn’t fly, there’s no overly elaborate computer systems – ok, maybe a few odd looking computer screens, but nobody has to wear special gloves to operate anything… except that one guy on the games console, ok it’s not perfect but I liked it alright? sheesh, you people. It’s even got a dog track in it, and no, the dogs are not robots.
