Prime Video is no stranger to nabbing some of the best sci-fi movies on streaming. Not only do they have originals like the underrated The Vast of Night, but also all-time classics of the genre like RoboCop & Escape From New York are streaming there; even recent releases like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes are there. One of the absolute best movies on the entire Prime Video platform, however, is hiding in plain sight, and it’s one that could be a difficult watch for anyone who unknowingly puts it on in 2025.
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Released in 2006 to critical acclaim and three Academy Award nominations, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is one of the best in his oeuvre, which is saying something. For longtime film fans, this movie is not only a staple of 21st-century filmmaking but a movie that has stood the test of time. It’s totally possible that this one missed some audience members; however, as its box office haul at the time wasn’t the best. In the time since its release, though, it has cemented itself as one of the great films, and something sci-fi fans should all watch once.
Children of Men Is Pure Sci-fi, but it Pushes Genre Boundaries
At the core of Children of Men‘s story is a dystopian sci-fi narrative. In the film, women all over the world have become infertile, leading to no new babies being born in 18 years. As a result, tensions across the globe are on high alert. Clive Owen stars in the film as Theo, a former activist and bureaucrat who is brought into a surprising turn of events when his ex-wife recruits him to help smuggle a woman out of the country, a pregnant woman.
As noted, the root of Children of Men‘s narrative heavily leans on the framing of a dystopian science-fiction world, but the film itself is able to push beyond that. There are times when Children of Men is a pure action movie, with escalatic sequences that are defined by Cuarón’s unique sense of style (more on that later), but also tension. The film’s action, however, is never the kind found in a blockbuster; it sends the movie into the genre of War, with limited optimism and conflict that is consistently life or death. Even when the bullets aren’t flying and there’s not a chase to be had, the grounded human emotion in Children of Men gives it yet another flourish of color. This is a movie that’s hard to define, with a lot on display for audiences willing to engage with it.
Children of Men Is Even Harder to Watch in 2025, Not Because of Availability
There are plenty of movies out there that are hard to watch in 2025 because the streaming rights are not fully ironed out, maybe the movie was created at a time when that wasn’t a standard in Hollywood contracts. Children of Men doesn’t fit that bill; instead, this is a movie that is tough to watch in the modern era because not only does it take place just two years from our current point in time, but its reflection of the world might look entirely too familiar to some who are watching.
At the heart of Children of Men‘s conflict is, of course, the miracle of a newborn baby in a world plagued by infertility, but the world-building around that plot is one that gives the movie a lot of depth. Developed in the wake of 9/11 and America’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, the film homes in on imagery detailing military police states, mass immigration, but also detention camps, domestic terrorism, and threats of civil war.
Though almost 20 years old at this point, Children of Men‘s larger depiction of a world fully on the brink of collapse is one that, while not wholly reflective of the present moment, might give some viewers pause. To perhaps make matters even worse, the fact that it was released two decades ago, and yet the global political climate remains the same, perhaps worse, might make the film even more depressing.
Children of Men’s Action Is a Masterclass
One of the defining hallmarks of Children of Men is a recurring motif that Cuarón has deployed throughout his career, extensive sequences that appear to all be done in one take without any breaks or cuts in the action. This can be seen not only in the likes of Gravity and Roma, but also Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; Children of Men, however, is perhaps the best execution of this across his filmography.
There are two key sequences in Children of Men that use this technique. The first comes as Theo and the group he’s aligned with are in a car, which is suddenly ambushed by a gang in the middle of nowhere. Not only does a flaming vehicle block their path and force them to drive in reverse, but they’re pursued on foot and by a motorcycle as they try to get away. Even as the scene reaches its climax with one character being shot, it doesn’t end there, with police engaging in pursuit in the final minutes of the sequence.
When all is said and done, this sequence not only shows off the resourcefulness that Theo has to react to the larger world, but also his quick commitment to the cause that he’s been drawn into. What’s especially impressive about it, though, is the way that Cuarón and his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, are able to spin the camera from the inside of the car and maintain visual cohesion across the sequence.
The second of these major sequences is just over six minutes of completely unbroken cinematography. In the scene, Theo must run across blocks of a war-torn city that was once a detention camp but which has become overrun, with soldiers on both sides firing weapons at almost every minute. Unlike many other one-shot sequences, it follows the character as he crosses streets, walks through buses, enters buildings, and goes up stairs, all while passing grieving civilians, moving tanks, and even live animals.
The sequence is a genius understanding of staging for a feature film, but also one that marries the tones of the entire movie into one sequence. Not only are the stakes of survival clearer than ever, but it also weaves together action with harrowing drama all through a gritty, almost documentary-style look at war.
If you’re looking for a sci-fi watch to keep you engaged and entertained, albeit with the risk of being pretty depressing, you can’t go wrong with Children of Men. Right now, you can find it on Prime Video, even if they are kind of hiding it.
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