I just finished watching Children of Men, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about. … it did not live up to my expectations.

I found the characters to be wafer thin, the main idea poorly explored and unexplained, the plot contrived and trite. The whole movie felt like a chain of cliches. In my view, it is not a good movie. … So then I’m a bit puzzled as to why it is so highly rated. I mean, different people have different tastes - but I’m now doubting that someone would really call the movie a ‘masterpiece’ or anything like that. I find the contrast between what I heard about it and what I experienced to be quite bizarre.

So I’m curious about what other people think of it here - outside of reviews on popular websites. I’d like to know if people do still say that it is a great movie. If you do like it, you don’t have to justify why or say what was good about it if you don’t want to. I’m content to accept that different people have different tastes. I’m really just curious whether or not there is a mismatch between online reviews and opinions on Lemmy. There’s certainly a mismatch with my own opinion!

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    6·
    2 hours ago

    I agree with you on the characters and plot - It leaves a lot to be desired, but the good acting makes up for it. I too would’ve loved to see the premise explored more in detail, but I think that would’ve required a much longer runtime, possibly split into several films, each of which wouldn’t really stand on their own. Think of it more as a story in a different world where the world building isn’t that important to fully grasp.

    However, there are two very positive points about the movie I want to point out:

    • The sound design. It actually sounds realistic. The ambience suits the scene without sucumbing to layers upon layers of what one would expect such a scene to contain. This means that the guns are free to sound like actual guns.
    • The cinematography of them escaping through the battle is the true masterpiece. The continuous take approach allows for more immersion in the danger they’re facing and the urgency of the situation. It truly captures how it feels to be stuck in a war zone as a 3RC party, and it feels like a real combat scene with proper ricochets and stray bullets where you are at risk of dying at any moment even if you’re an innocent bystander and nobody is out to get you.