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!
I’m one of those people who would call it a masterpiece, but I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t think you’re wrong about the characters and plot, although they gain a lot more depth as you rewatch it. They are honestly the weakest part of the movie, relatively.
What the movie aims to do is impart a specific feeling. The book did a really good job of it as well, although a slightly different feeling. The plot is really just a device to move you through the world they have created so that you will feel it. The feeling of holding onto a glimmer of hope in a world driven to hopelessness and despair.
Other dystopian stories arguably try to capture that feeling but none compare in my opinion. Tyrannical governments and alien invasions always carry the hope of rebellion. But Children of Men feels like watching a loved one die of old age. There is no hope of recovering from old age and there is no hope of continuation without children. No matter how much you fight you will fade away and then be gone forever.
Children of Men really shines with repeat viewings, but if you didn’t like it the first time I don’t think it will win you over.
That sounds fair.
I think I wasn’t really in a great mood when I watched it, and so I was probably not susceptible to having a particular feeling invoked. At the time, my own feelings were going to dominate regardless of the what the movie did.
I was mostly thinking about why characters were doing the things they were doing, or saying the things they were saying - and my conclusion was often that it was only for the viewer’s benefit; which I didn’t like. But on the other hand, I can see how what they were doing and saying could help invoke a feeling if I had been more receptive to it; rather than worrying about the ‘why’.