Children of Men

Critic Reviews

Cuaron fulfills the promise of futuristic fiction; characters do not wear strange costumes or visit the moon, and the cities are not plastic hallucinations, but look just like today, except tired and shabby.

-Roger EbertFull Review

What I find particularly irksome about it is its pseudo-humanism and its calculating political correctness.

-Andrew SarrisFull Review

It's a wow.

-David EdelsteinFull Review

A superior sci-fi thriller and the best doomsday drama since 28 Days Later.

-Roger MooreFull Review

Cuaron does lowdown takes on high concept better than anyone; no matter what genre he touches, he brings grit and loose-limbed humor along with the hand-held camera jangles.

-Amy BiancolliFull Review

Darkly poetic throughout, the film starts with an explosion and ends drifting in fog with no clear resolution in sight. How brave and oddly satisfying.

-Tom LongFull Review

Fasten your seat belt; you're in for a bumpy, provocative ride.

-Terry LawsonFull Review

You can see it now or wait 20 years until the movie has found a niche among equally visionary movies that have the capacity to compel, alarm and shake things up.

-Robert Denerstein

Based on a novel by British mystery writer P.D. James, Children of Men is a filmmaking feat. In the midst of mayhem, director Alfonso Cuaron delivers subtle and jarring images, while exploring complex emotional rhythms.

-Lisa KennedyFull Review

[A] dark, terrifying and sometimes very funny film.

-Steven Rea

A stylish mish-mash of dystopian cliches.

-Stephen WhittyFull Review

At times the film is so supercharged that it glosses over the story's thematic richness and turns into a very high-grade action picture. But if that's the worst thing you can say about a movie, you're doing all right.

-Peter RainerFull Review

Cuaron also pulls us deep into the engrossing universe he has created. There is a stark absence of gadget porn in this futuristic adventure; the most advanced device we see is a video game, innovation at its most trivial.

-Colin Covert

Thrilling, important, and invigoratingly bleak, Children of Men is one of the very best movies to come out in 2006.

-Lisa SchwarzbaumFull Review

Even if you don't buy the main conceit, the scumbled texture of the movie makes it feel not just plausible but recognizable, and Cuaron takes care never to paint the future as consolingly different.

-Anthony Lane

Bloated adaptation of P.D. James's thoughtful, compact novel.

-Joe MorgensternFull Review

While it's best to know as little as possible about this movie going into the theater, the story is so fast-paced that you won't be thinking about this review or any other.

-Peter HartlaubFull Review

A second viewing, which Children of Men richly rewards, deepens our understanding.

-Peter Travers

An audacious, exhilarating futuristic thriller.

-Ann HornadayFull Review

Children of Men, the superbly directed political thriller by Alfonso Cuarón, may be something of a bummer, but its the kind of glorious bummer that lifts you to the rafters.

-Manohla Dargis

Even in a picture where the smallest gears all work perfectly and harmoniously, Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography is a unifying and galvanizing force.

-Stephanie ZacharekFull Review

Although imperfect, it's engaging, thought-provoking stuff.

-James BerardinelliFull Review

Cuaron relies on his ample visual style, and he has indeed created a film you cannot tear your eyes away from.

-Jack MathewsFull Review

The story is strong enough, but it's the atmosphere, thick with matter-of-fact doom and guerrilla warfare, that gives the film its quickened pulse.

-Chris VognarFull Review

What makes Children work is that camera and the staging of all the physical insanity its lens captures.

-Bob TownsendFull Review

It's definitely worth setting aside your urge for lightweight escapism and diving into this heavy, provocative tale, set so closely to our times and so recognizably an extension of our world that it offers an intriguing chance for reflection.

-David Germain

Everything comes together in Children of Men, from Owen's white-knuckled performance to the eclectic soundtrack.

-Bill MullerFull Review

This is an extraordinary artistic breakthrough from a Mexican director who was already fearlessly good to begin with.

-Wesley MorrisFull Review

The story, based on P.D. James' novel, grabs you at first, but its grip slackens as the unanswered questions and murky plot developments add up.

-Kyle Smith

An exhilarating sci-fi action thriller with a powerful social and political message.

-Claudia PuigFull Review

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Critics

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Audience

81%

Critic Reviews