Babylon A.D. Review by Shale August 30, 2008 Despite the hot, moist, gusty tropical weather here in Miami Beach today, (We are between two hurricanes at the moment) I did bike over to the cineplex because I am always up for a sci-fi action flick with Vin Diesel in the lead. Besides, the trailers looked interesting. This movie wasn't screened in advance for critics, usually a sign that they didn't want their movie trashed until after it opens. Well, it was roundly trashed by the reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Here is a sampling of the 95% of reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes who gave it a splat! Undeniably awful....Fairly terrible techno-punk action flick...Babylon AD and its own destiny appear lurching toward Babylon DVD, prophetically much sooner than later...Brawny but brainless techno-twaddle...Like a futuristic remake of "XXX" no one ever asked for, this atrociously lame and redundant sci-fi flick may be the dullest action movie of the year...A huge mess of a film that has many ideas behind it, but finds only poor ways to execute them. Even the two good reviews posted had this to say: James Christopher of The Times-UK "It’s utter codswallop, yet enjoyable if you unplug your brain." Xan Brooks of The Guardian "You don't need to have a grudging affection for Vin Diesel to appreciate this dunderheaded comic-book adventure - although, obviously, it helps." OK, I can unplug my brain to watch one of these teen action flicks and I do have an affection for Vin Diesel, so I won't exactly trash this movie, but the detractors had valid points. (Just watched xXx this week and Vin has a whole new set of tats from that movie) Vin Diesel's new movie tats The story as seen in the trailers has hard-nosed smuggler, Toorop (Vin Diesel) living in hard-scrabble "New Serbia" after some apocalyptic near-future. He is grabbed by warlord Gorsky (Gérard Depardieu) and given a job to smuggle a woman to New York. Lots of sci-fi technology stuff that is probably being invented right now (love the road map), but there is a lot of good old guns and fist action in the movie as well. He is dropped off at a monastery in Mongolia where he picks up the cargo, Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) and her guardian, Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh). They then go thru all the bleak places such as a refugee center in Vladivostok and a trip across the Bering Strait, eventually making it to their destination New York, where more intrigues unfold with the monastery's High Priestess (Charlotte Rampling) who heads the crooked religious order. Sister Rebeka, Aurora and Toorop On The Run More sci-fi tech stuff thrown in here with the High Priestess and her scientist cohort, who know the secret of the smuggled woman. There - a quick rundown of the story and I think I've avoided spoiling anything. Of course you know from the first look at Charlotte Rampling that she is a villain, just as you knew that the reserved nun played by Michelle Yeoh would do some kickass martial arts scenes. This movie was nothing but a way to escape momentarily and for a summer matinee wasn't that bad. But it wasn't good and I particularly did not like the ending, which was ambiguous and appeared they ran out of film or something and yelled "cut" before the story was finished. Coulda been a setup for a sequel, but I doubt anyone will go see it after this movie, which should be on DVD shortly. BTW, after the movie I went to the video store and bought a cheap used Pitch Black and The Chonicles of Riddick. (OK, so I am in love with Vin Diesel) Just watched Pitch Black so now I can say I saw a good Vin Diesel movie today.
Good movie but i heard the director was mad at the studio for cutting the film and making it PG-13. I hope when the vid comes out there is a director's cut of the moive so i can see the whole thing. And Mélanie Thierry was so goregeous!
I wholeheartedly agree with the RT review who mentioned the good ideas and lack of execution. Those were pretty much the first words out of my mouth after I saw this flick. With some decent acting and a little meat added to the story this could have made an epic sci-fi trilogy, but when Vin Diesel at a low point is your strongest character you better wrap it up and make bank while you can. Sister Rebeka had some potential but ultimately took a back seat to her own arbitray martial arts sequences. Aurora was utterly boring, completely impersonal, and just plain terribly acted. A good performance there could have made up for so much that was wrong with this movie, but oh well...
