Screen Rant argues that Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men has the standout sci-fi opening scene of the 21st century, using a single-take sequence to build its bleak world in just over two minutes.
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01Summary
- 01The article names Children of Men as the best sci-fi opening scene of this century.
- 02The opening lasts about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and is set in the film’s fictional year 2027.
- 03Clive Owen’s Theo Faron walks into a coffee shop as a news broadcast explains the death of the world’s youngest human.
- 04An explosion destroys the café as Theo leaves, helping establish Britain’s closed borders and humanity’s infertility crisis.
- 05The sequence is described as a single take in Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 dystopian film.
02Why it matters
The scene is presented as a benchmark for how science fiction can establish world, tone and tension almost immediately. For viewers, it is a reminder of a film that still feels strikingly current 20 years later.
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