That said, it is wonderful to see a film set in the future that does not posit a future filled with neon colored ridiculously hyper-stylized clothing, flying cars, barcode technology in people, robots, etc. People still take the bus, boats, trains, and cars on highways and look more or less like we do today. Sci-fi die hards will be bemused.
To finish up this point on the future, it is refreshing to see a big budget action film set in a major city in the future that does not resort to destroying major monuments. We spend a good bit of time in London, but we never so much as see Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, or Parliament, let alone seeing them destroyed. It is nice to see that the makers of this film had a bit of creativity in dispensing their acts of violence instead of taking the easy way out as so many films in the genre do.
Ok, moving on....
Christian Nativity symbology abounds (even disregarding the Christmas release date): The story centers on Kee who is miraculously pregnant with a possible 'savior', Kee reveals to Theo (God prefix) that she is pregnant in a stable, Kee's midwife is named Mary-ann, lacking a pair of proper shoes that fit Clive Owen traipses about in a pair of sandals, just about every time someone blurts an exclamation it's "Jesus!", "Christ!" or "Jesus Christ!", the line "your baby is the miracle the whole world has been waiting for", stretching the connections a little bit here but, the leader of the rebel faction "The Fishes" is named Luke. The Fishes (as opposed to the biblical fishers) are all waiting for the baby so they can convert people to their belief system...I'm sure there was more, but that's what I recall off-hand. Not to sound as if I am deriding this symbolism, there is something to be admired in the matter-of-fact manner in which all of this is dispensed. None of it seems too contrived in context and is certainly not dwelt upon on screen, but it is almost ever-present.
While a very well-made film, this endeavor has one big hole right down the center of the story that more or less renders it an exercise in futility. The film itself is about Clive Owen's character, Theo and his personal journey, but the plot hinges on the young pregnant female who is carrying the first baby in 18 years and thus she is the key to the future of humanity (she is aptly named Kee). The problem is, what is going to happen when she gets out of England. The characters hang their hopes on a mysterious group known as "The Human Project" who operate on a ship. Well, unless they have cloning technology or plan to make Kee and her baby girl into their own human farm animals for the sake of procreation, I see naught but futility in their great escape. But, oh, what an escape it is!
The action sequences of this film are so tightly crafted and executed that they make you lean forward in your seat, uneasy about how the characters will get out of this predicament, while trying to make sense of the relative positions of the warring factions. Clive Owen is the hero of an action movie, but he never once totes a gat. Bodies wielding guns fall around him but he never thinks to pick one up. You wonder if his character would even know how to shoot it.
Other scenes hearken back to other films in their cinematography, the one stand out is when Maryann and Theo are talking in the school while Kee says her prayers outside on the swing. Visually, it is almost impossible not to see the early scene of Citizen Kane when Mrs Kane is signing over young Charlie's life in the foreground while he plays outside in the background.
There are certain moments where the film allows for emotional poignancy and connectivity, but just when the viewer starts to feel even a glimmer of relief from the constant dread, here comes a hail of gunfire or a rocket attack or a flaming car down a hill or something of that nature, bringing us back to the grim reality of their situation.
One such moment in the middle of the film features Michael Caine's character, Jasper, tells the story of Theo as one of the ebb, flow, and confluence of chance and faith. He concludes that the events of Theo's life to that point had led him to adopt a philosophy that the events of life are going to take their own course, regardless of his actions, so why bother trying. Theo overhears this, and at this point he realizes his own malaise is self-induced and decides to come out of his funk to help this girl and start to get on with his life. In my interpretation, this conversation informs the ending of the film. Theo and Kee get to sea where they are supposed to meet the Human Project people out at a red buoy, according to the Fishes who had had contact with the group. A boat came just as it looked like there would be no hope. Personally, I think this was just a fishing boat, and there never was any such group as "The Human Project". Julian (Julianne Moore's character) had created the idea of the group to either lead them to their doom or she knew there was a boat called the Tomorrow that docked in that spot and would eventually come by and used it to create a story to get the group behind her. Either way, I seriously question that the ending should be taken literally.
In my reading of the film, these characters had faith that they would be saved so they went to the buoy. By chance, a boat came by at the time Kee needed it most. Life may or may not be random, but if we have faith and cultivate our gardens, life has a way of working things out for the best for us, in this best of all possible worlds.
Summation:
This film is full of ideas and visual flair and is definitely worth seeing, even with a gaping central plot hole.
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