It's been eighteen years since the birth of the last human child and civilization is barely hanging on by a thread. Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, members of a violent resistance movement, find themselves escorting the holy grail - a miraculously pregnant woman - through the dregs of a dystopian badland.

It's a great encapsulation of all the best elements of dark, future-gazing science fiction, hauntingly recognizable despite the distant timeframe. Owen is fantastic in a demanding leading role: part jaded worker-bee, part helpless victim, shattered widower, problem solver and action hero. The film moves incredibly quickly, delighting in its chances to shatter the illusion of tranquility with a jolting change of tone and fortune. One long, jaw-dropping shot in particular has stuck with me for years, even as details of the rest of the plot faded. If you've seen the film even once, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

And despite that breakneck tempo, it still somehow manages to work in a wealth of world-building details and delicate character moments. The action scenes are intense and vivid, the moral quandaries deeply disturbing, and its tenor is right on the mark. Epic, powerful sci-fi that teases a post-9/11 distrust of the government without overdoing it.