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(About Our Ads) "CHILDREN OF MEN" (2006) (Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor) (R) If you've come from our parental review of this film and wish to return to it, simply click on your browser's BACK button. Otherwise, use the following link to read our complete Parental Review of this film. QUICK TAKE: Drama/Action: In the near future when all women are infertile, a man is chosen to escort the world's lone pregnant woman to safety in hopes of saving humankind. PLOT: It's 2027 London, and everything is in disarray. Immigrants are being rounded up into detention camps, and due to unexplained fertility issues, no new people have been born anywhere on Earth for the past eighteen years. Thus, humans will become extinct in less than a century, a point that's led to chaos as well as people like Theodore Faron (CLIVE OWEN) seeing nothing but a pointless, bleak future. While he enjoys spending time with his reclusive, hippie friend Jasper Palmer (MICHAEL CAINE) who lives out in the woods, Theo can't get past all of the gloom and doom, unlike his live-in-the-moment cousin Nigel (DANNY HUSTON). Things change, however, when rebel forces known as the Fishes kidnap and deliver him to their leader, Julian Taylor (JULIANNE MOORE). She's his former wife who fights for equal rights for all people, and hopes he can get transport papers for an illegal immigrant, Kee (CLAIRE-HOPE ASHITEY), and her traveling companion Miriam (PAM FERRIS). Theo agrees for the pay, but then discovers the underlying cause of Julian's urgency -- Kee is pregnant. Realizing the ramifications of her state, Theo, along with Fish such as Luke (CHIWETEL EJIOFOR) and Patric (CHARLIE HUNNAM), then set out hoping to deliver her to a sort of seaside sanctuary known as "The Human Project." Along the way, Theo and Kee must deal with treachery from within their own ranks, various questionable outsiders such as Syd (PETER MULLAN), as well as traveling through a full-blown war zone where government and rebel forces are engaged in battle, unaware of what's in their midst and lies in the balance of their actions. OUR TAKE: 8 out of 10 One of the best of 2006, this film from director Alfonso Cuarón ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Y Tu Mama Tambien") and adapted from P.D. James' novel of the same name, is nothing short of visually stunning and completely gripping.. Something of a mixture of "Logan's Run," "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Nativity Story," this futuristic allegory of the latter tale features a terrific Clive Owen in the non-hero heroic role, a compelling "what if" story, and arguably the best cinematography of the year. While clearly not for all audiences (due to the R-rated material), the film is one of the most engaging pics I've seen this year and will likely stick in viewers' minds and even hearts for some time to come. Our full review of this bleak but ultimately optimistic cautionary film will be posted soon. Reviewed November 15, 2006 / Posted December 25, 2006