Presenting a bleak, harrowing, and yet ultimately hopeful vision of humankind's not-too-distant future,Children of Menis a riveting cautionary tale of potential things to come. Set in the crisis-ravaged future of 2027, and based on the atypical 1993 novel by British mystery writer P.D. James, the anxiety-inducing, action-packed story is set in a dystopian England where humanity has become infertile (the last baby was born in 2009), immigration is a crime, refugees (or "fugees") are caged like animals, and the world has been torn apart by nuclear fallout, rampant terrorism, and political rebellion. In this seemingly hopeless landscape of hardscrabble survival, a jaded bureaucrat named Theo (Clive Owen) is drawn into a desperate struggle to deliver Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), the world's only pregnant woman, to a secret group called the Human Project that hopes to discover a cure for global infertility. As they carefully navigate between the battling forces of military police and a pro-immigration insurgency, Theo, Kee, and their secretive allies endure a death-defying ordeal of urban warfare, and director Alfonso Cuaron (with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki) capture the action with you-are-there intensity. There's just enough humor to balance the film's darker content (much of it coming from Michael Caine, as Theo's aging hippie cohort), and althoughChildren of Menglosses over many of the specifics about its sociopolitical worst-case scenario (which includes Julianne Moore in a brief but pivotal role), it's still an immensely satisfying, pulse-pounding vision of a future that represents a frightening extrapolation of early 21st-century history.--Jeff Shannon
Yes it does I had no problems whatsoever playing this on a Toshiba XA2.
The movie itself is pretty good. Flows really well, except that I had to stop and turn captions on a few times as I just couldn't make out the dialogue. Brits would have no problem, though :) Some great moments and intriguing directorial techniques.
On the HD-DVD relase This release doesnt play on Toshiba HD-DVD players. So if you have a Tosh better wait until they release an firmware update (I have no hope that they will be releasing one in 2-3 months). There are many other HD-DVD titles that wont play on Toshiba players, better check out before ordering one.Watch out for hybrid combo discs! I just purchased the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player and I love it. I was unpleasantly surprised when the HD side of the disc would not play on my machine. I had already registered my player and was told my Toshiba to upgrade my firmware. I received the firmware disc today, installed it and the disc still won't work. The Standard DVD side works fine, but what's the point. So I'm sending the disc back to Amazon.
Beware of these hybrid discs! Many other HD-DVD owners have had similar problems. Happy Feet, Army of Darkness, and other hybrid discs to name a few, may not play on your Toshiba, even with the firmware update. Recently, Universal decided to kill hybrid discs altogether for future releases and are reissuing current releases as HD-only. I'm 99% sure this was done because of playback problems like mine.
Bravo to Universal for nipping this in the bud right away. Besides, if I wanted to buy the standard DVD, I would have. But I want my HD! So when Children of Men is reissued, I will buy it again. Until then I will stay away from the Hybrid Combo DVD's until they are all discontinued and re-issued.
By the way, Children of Men was awesome in the theater...it's killing me that I can't watch it in HD yet...
