Babylon A.D.

I enjoyed the not-too distant almost post-apocalyptic theme. Story gets confusing here and there and movie feels like they cut way too much out of it. But it's still a solid movie.

I thought it was a decent movie; Not very memorable, but not bad. It had an interesting atmosphere and some relatively entertaining action scenes, but the acting wasn't too good (nowhere near as bad as most people here make it out to be though). It also had some pretty cheesy moments and was kinda predictable. Also, I don't really get what people found hard to understand, I didn't think it was hard to follow at all.

It's one of those movies where a lone-wolf, hardcore mercenary gets hired to deliver a "package" that turns out to be a girl who is very important. It takes the expected turns these types of movies do. The only difference is that it has a sci-fi setting and a non-sensical plot. At least the action scenes are entertaining. The inclusion of Diesel makes it feel like an interesting combination of Riddick with some elements of the Fast & Furious series. The plot is really the biggest issue here. It literally makes no sense at all because it offers no explanation for any questions you will have. The girl "Aurora" (Melanie Thierry) is where all of the confusion stems from. Apparently she has some special powers, might be carrying a virus, and is asexual. You are going to ask yourself how any of that is possible. The film offers no answers of any kind. Why? Apparently whoever wrote this didn't finish it. The movie feels incomplete. You can tell that the movie is trying hard to use those elements to say something deep. however it never actually does that. There's a missing final act that should have been used to answer all the questions and conclude things on a satisfying note. It's not there and the movie just sort of ends. It's a shame too, because the thought of finally getting answers at some point kept me interested in the movie. There is still some entertainment to be found here. The action is pretty good and the world is compelling. It's just a shame the story never gives us any explanation as to why any of things here are happening. Not even so much as a simple answer as to how the world got to the state it's in. Because of that it's hard to recommend. Any sci-fi fan expects at least some explanation and action movie fans might be put off by the slower pace. Still there is something mildly entertaining here. However it all goes to crap the moment you realize you are't going to get any answers and that the pretentious tone never leads to the film saying anything at all. Up to that point it's kind of fun and maybe worth a rental. Just don't expect a satisfying and revealing conclusion. Despite myself my total score for the movie is a 6.5/10.

Babylon A.D. is Vin Diesel’s entire career in microcosm. He starts out as a gritty, amoral, selfish murderer a la Pitch Black, gets in a few car chases, pulls off some X-Games stunts, attempts some dramatic stuff which never really works, gets all sci-fi with confusing futuristic plot exposition, and by the end he’s morphed into The Pacifier, a glorified babysitter who has given up his guns for polo shirts and awkwardness with kids. As with every recent Vin Diesel project, when the credits roll, you’ll kick yourself for having been **** into watching yet another one of his crummy movies. The one thing all bad Vin Diesel movies have in common is that the film’s problems are never actually his fault. Vin delivers his usual solid, gruff performance in Babylon A.D., but the movie doesn’t deserve him. The film’s director Mathieu Kassovitz has already come out and blamed this disaster on studio interference, and that may be the case. I’m not here to assign blame though, simply to review what shows up on screen. What we have here is a mess. It starts well enough, with Vin wandering around in a near-future Eastern Europe which looks a lot like the 80s near-future Detroit from Robocop. Vin is a mercenary named Toorop, hired to smuggle a girl named Aurora and her nun caretaker Rebeka into America. The set off through Russia, planning to sneak across the Bering Straight into Canada, even though the Bering Straight connects Russia to Alaska. Perhaps in the future Alaska has been conquered by the Canucks, there’s no real explanation for that or most of the sillier conceits going on in the movie. Even with its completely inconsistent characters, Babylon A.D. might have been sort of fun. In fact it is, for the first 40 or 50 minutes. There’s some mildly entertaining action sequences, done with average stunts and practical effects. It feels like you’re watching a particularly well executed episode of post apocalyptic thriller on the Sci Fi channel. At some point though, the fun stops and it becomes such a total mess that all you can do is laugh at it. The movie has no idea how to wrap things up and even worse, no idea how to explain any of what’s been going on. There’s some mumbo jumbo about virgin births which never amounts to anything, and some vague allusions to a cultish, corporate religion, but not enough explanation to connect the dots between any of it. I still have no idea why we were following around most of the people in this movie, and I don’t know that the actors in it do either. If they don’t know what they’re doing, then it’s doubtful you will. Don’t bother buying a ticket.

Babylon A. D. avait, sur le papier, tout ce qu'il fallait pour être le nouveau Blade Runner, à commencer par un rÃalisateur de talent (Mathieu Kassovitz), un fond scÃnaristique intÃressant dans le domaine de la science-fiction et quelques pensÃes philosophiques sur notre sociÃtÃ. Mais malheureusement, le film est très loin d'atteindre ce sommet. Surtout qu'au lieu d'être un long-mÃtrage puissant tel Les Fils de l'Homme, Babylon A. D. a les airs d'une sÃrie B amÃricaine ou bien d'une production Besson (au choix) qui , en plus, n'explose à aucun moment pour satisfaire les fÃrus d'action (les scènes Ãtant peu nombreuses et inintÃressantes). Sans parler d'un scÃnario à la fois incomprÃhensible (cette sociÃtà futuriste est juste survolÃe et non dÃtaillÃ) et trop fade (tout comme l'ambiance, rendue Ãnervante par la bande son). Et puis, c'est quoi cette voix française donnÃe à Vin Diesel? Reste un hônnete casting. Mais l'intÃrêt du film reste bien mystÃrieux...