KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
Not that it earns an extra star or anything, but Children of Men has a little something extra to recommend it to us.
Yes, it might be set in a particularly British dystopia of 2027, its original author P.D. James using the
early bits of the Gospel According to Mark for inspiration for her rare foray into sci-fi and a story with thematic parallels to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.
And the future that Mexican director Cuaron creates can seem worryingly plausible in its grimness which evokes the feeling that when it comes, The End will be a sad gradual decline rather than a single apocalyptic event.
But among its many deft touches, Children of Men deserves extra praise for having its hapless hero Theo (Owen) attempting to do the right thing by himself and mankind while wearing the footwear of the gods - Jandals.
They are borrowed from a mate, a former political cartoonist played by Michael Caine, who lives in solar-powered leafy isolation with his dope crop.
And they are a sign that Theo is not about to do any action-man ass-kicking as he becomes the reluctant escort to a refugee woman Kee (Ashitey).
In a world that has been rendered infertile for 18 years because of pollution, she harbours a potentially devastating secret. That gets them pursued by a totalitarian government rounding up all migrants and a revolutionary group which has crossed the line into terrorism.
Having Theo flip-flop his way through scenes isn't the only display of Children of Men's underlying sense of humour, which skirts a similar territory to Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Twelve Monkeys.
Caine's long-haired Jasper chucks in a few fart jokes, too. Oh, and possibly on a whim, Cuaron makes a visual gag based on a Pink Floyd album cover and a much-filmed London landmark.
But that black comedy is mixed with echoes of other, far bleaker predecessors. Some of its early countryside scenes evoke the classic 70s British television post-pandemic series Survivors.
While scenes of an uprising in a refugee internment camp are like Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket - just as that film rendered Vietnam beneath grey English skies - this creates a Gaza-Strip-Upon-Sea in coastal Bexhill and ratchets up the sense of peril with first-person shots that drop you into the crossfire.
Some minor details about this bleak future and its politics might not always ring true - and not just if there's no one left under 18, like, who's doing all the tagging?
But Owen's compelling performance combined with Cuaron's inspired sense of doom makes Children of Men thought-provoking at a time when science fact is doing the job that science fiction once did at the movies.
Cast: Clive Owen, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Running time: 110 mins
Rating: R16 (violence, offensive language, drug use)
Screening: Rialto, SkyCity, Hoyts cinemas from November 23
Verdict: A captivating, very British, end-is-nigh, sci-fi thriller complete with biblical allegory, political satire and open-toed footwear
