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Comment by roryisok | Hacker News Reader

Whatever you might argue about it's prescience, Children of Men is one of the best films of the last decade. The writing, directing and acting are all stellar. It has some of the best single take shots ever filmed. There's a 20 minute running street battle at the end with tanks and explosions that is shot in a single take.

It's also one of those rare occasions where the movie is far better than the original book. Book is ok, film is outstanding.

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The reasons you consider it to be such a good film probably have more to do with cinematography than writing, acting or directing. The beautiful shots are a direct result of Emmanuel Lubezki being the DP - the same style can be seen in Birdman, Gravity, The Revenant, and some of Terrence Malick’s films.

The cinematography is excellent, but the performances and writing are top notch, even without the fancy tracking shots or singles takes. Best performance of Clive Owens career, he's wasted in everything else. The rapport between himself and Caine is marvellous. Ejiofor is subtly menacing, more desperation than outright evil.

Even the smaller roles are well cast and executed. Charlie Hunnam is almost unrecognisable as the dreadlocked villain Patric. Peter Mullan does a fantastic turn as the brutal Syd.

The writing took the source material and squeezed far more emotion and drama out of it than was in there. Throwaway lines hint at so much untold story. There's a scene where Theo goes to visit his cousin to try and get travel documents. He has Michelangelo's David in the hallway of his office, and he talks off-handedly about "that thing in madrid was a real blow to art" or something. There's this whole backstory in there about the UK government trying to salvage the artworks of europe from the decay of civilisation, but we only get a hint of it. Perfectly understated. Always stayed with me.

While the cinematography is a master stroke, it's not enough to carry a film seeking some level of depth.

I feel Children of Men succeeds because all of its elements - the direction, acting, art direction, writing, score, editing & cinematography - come together so well.

There are many films that get some of these elements right, far fewer nail all of them.

Don't forget the practical and visual effects teams:

https://www.fxguide.com/featured/children_of_men_-_hard_core...

> There's a 20 minute running street battle at the end with tanks and explosions that is shot in a single take.

Strictly speaking there's a cut hidden in the middle of it somewhere.

I think it's when they first enter the building and droplets of water get on the camera lens but are quickly removed in the next couple of frames.

Well, it's still an incredible achievement

Absolutely! Children of Men is one of my all-time favourite movies.

Disagree. I thought it was always fighting a low budget, and for me, it never rose beyond the level of a poor mini series. Clive Owen was not good either - he has no real talent.

Absolutely agree. It's a masterpiece on many different levels.

What about the book, is it good?

It's alright. Quite short, just a novella, and a good deal less realistic. The ending was a bit contrived. I was disappointed by it overall

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