So, I went to see Clive Owen in Children of Men this weekend. I was a little hesitant to see it because I've heard that it was extremely violent.
While it is a violent movie, it wasn't as violent as I thought it was going to be. Definitely not on the scale of Black Hawk Down.
All in all, I really enjoyed it. The filmmakers don't blatently tell the audience every single little detail - you have to really watch the film to pick up the background of Michael Caine's catatonic wife, the suicide pill, etc. It's quite refreshing. In other words, it's a good example of the "show, don't tell" mantra of story-weaving.
Which reminds me, Michael Caine was great in this. His character is mostly for comic relief, but the role is such a departure from what I would normally consider a "Michael Caine" role and it was refreshing to see Caine do something new. Maybe I just haven't watched enough Michael Caine movies, but I've always seen him do fairly stuffy roles (even though he's excellent in them - The Quiet American is one of my favorite movies, but only after reading the book) and it was great to see him utilize his potential.
While I enjoy watching Clive Owen in pretty much anything he's done (yes, even King Arthur, even though it was a terrible movie), he was superb in this. I think his work in Children of Men trumps his work in Closer.
As far as dystopian movies are concerned, I was slightly disappointed with the ending. I feel it should have been more optimistic than it was.
I've heard the movie doesn't follow the book very well, so I suppose I'll be reading the book now. Hopefully I'll be able to find a copy without Clive on the cover.
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2 comments:
I also don't like violence in movies. Especially violence towards women. That probably sounds sexist. I think we have become desensitived to it. Great review once again BTW.
No, I don't think it sounds sexist. Maybe I'm sexist, but I think most men have a hard-coded urge to protect women, and they can't protect a woman who is just an image on the big screen. The hardest part of Closer for me to watch is when Jude Law hits Natalie Portman.
One of my new friends mentioned the general public's desensitization of gore in movies, and she thinks we're very close to a threshold where some movie maker will go too far and, instead of people enjoying his horror movie, will be repulsed by it and the movie will flop.
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