Children of Men and The Hitcher

Children of Men - The future is a scary thing. Twenty years in the future, the world is at war, cities and countries are torn apart, fighting and dying and bombing. Oh, and since women can't have babies anymore, the youngest person in the world just died. He was eighteen. That leaves our protagonist Theo (Clive Owen) to ensure the future of the world when he is somewhat conned into helping his ex-girlfriend get a refugee woman who just so happens to be pregnant out of war torn London and into the safety of a group of people who they're not even sure exist. Children of Men is a kind of revelation, the kind of jarring, subtle film that will surely benefit from further viewings. It's a convincing future world albeit a very terrifying vision so well realized. Clive Owen finally plays the sort of tragic hero role that we all knew he had in him and he holds this film together with that world weary face and those piercing eyes. Julianne Moore glows with such life and I have to say I've never enjoyed Michael Caine as much as in this film. The soundtrack is beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous, the script is a delight. This is the kind of movie that grabs you from the start and never lets go. Initially, it's the differences of this future world that is so intriguing but soon the action starts and what was so surprising was the freshness of direction that made a reaction to bullets and death and violence like you'd never seen them in a movie before. If the script wasn't so wonderfully leveled with wit, it would be a grim and scary movie at times (although it's hardly an uplifting one). This is a movie that is horrifyingly beliveable and utterly beautiful to watch. There is one specific scene that, dare I say, was the best scene captured on film last year, when Owen's Theo is escorting young Kee and her newborn baby through a barrage of bullets, soldiers and refugees fighting to the death... but as soon as they hear that crying and see that baby... something no one has seen or heard for 18 years, the reaction is utterly and completely beautiful.
Grade: A

The Hitcher - The risk you run when remaking any horror movie is the inevitable fact that everyone is going to compare your new film to the original. Luckily for The Hitcher, not many people have seen the original (myself excluded). This isn't a great film or remake by any means but it does a pretty good job nonetheless even if the remake ultimately fails to surpass the original. Sean Bean takes over for Rutger Hauer and does a wonderful job. It was hard to imagine that he could be quite as cool and menacing as Hauer was in the original as the drifting psycho, but he gives a chilling portrayal. Director David Meyers does a pretty good job at keeping the film compact. Many films today (especially horror films) feel the need to be much longer than they need to be. In some cases, 85 minutes is just enough time to get your message across. The plot of this movie is quite simple and the new filmmakers keep it just as simple: two college kids (Zachary Knighton as Jim and the beautiful Sophia Bush as Grace) reluctantly offer a hitchhiker (Bean as John Ryder) a ride to a hotel a mere 15 miles away. Turns out, our mother's were right and we should not pick up hitchhikers no matter how friendly they seem. Still, much of the reason the film held my interest is because Sophia Bush is in it and I just love her. While the original film was a fun piece of B-movie celluloid, this film doesn't have the same feeling of fun or the same intensity. The writing is merely average and there's a reason no one knows who Zachary Knighton is. The plot is a bit ridiculous as well. While it's hard to take anything serious with the original, this film seemed to think it was serious. Which is fine. Except for the fact that all of these coincidences just kept happening and happening and happening. I'm willing to dispell believablity a few times because, after all, it's a just a movie but when coincidence after coincidence keep lining up, it's hard to keep interested in a plot you can see coming a mile away. The film also suffers from having a very anti-climatic conclusion that is a bit irritating (although Sophia Bush is quite the kick ass chick in the few final moments). Even if the film is only 85 minutes long, the final 15 minutes seemed to drag out forever. Still, it's not a horrible movie. It's pretty average, pretty ok. But it does get a boost from a C to a C+ because of the single coolest death scene I have EVER seen!
Grade: C+