‘Babylon A.D.’ Is About 30 Min. Short of a Full Story
-----Babylon A.D. came off as another Diesel engine, if you will. Taking place in a somewhat dystopia future, the point seemed to be one thing: you will see Vin Diesel beat up a lot of people. Whether it would work or not unfortunately came down to the hands of a cut-happy distributor.
-----Toorop (Diesel) is a mercenary who receives the task of transporting a young woman named Aurora (Melanie Thierry) from Russia to America. Under contract from a Russian gangster, Toorop must also suffer the criticism of the watchful Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh). Whether or not we ultimately find out what is going on, we know that bad people want Aurora, and Vin Diesel will have to stop them.
-----Diesel plays Diesel in this sci-fi film about a treacherous journey. By that I mean his famed tough guy persona. Mercifully he does so the way we love to see him do it. Melanie Thierry plays Aurora, in a rather odd role as the somewhat strange and easily scared young woman. Michelle Yeoh, like Diesel does what she does best, playing the loving yet serious mother figure to Aurora. Nothing special occurs in the acting category but they all effectively do their part in making a good film until…*GASP!* Twentieth century Fox got into the editing room!
-----Indeed the film is solid entertainment until about the last half hour that should have been the last hour. Explanations were rushed, the audience confused, and ultimately a good pace is turned into mush with random scenes taking place at who knows how long of time intervals. Not to mention that terrible feeling you get when you’re watching it sure you must have just stepped out to go to the bathroom and missed pivotal plot points, eight times in a row! While you’ll still probably get the gist of it all, there’s no denying that the director was angry about the final product for a reason. Diesel even asked if he was still in the movie after the numerous cuts and director Mathieu Kassovitz trashing of his own film.
-----The cinematography is adequate with some cool sets and there are some quality locations. While some scenes and futuristic nuances are easily identifiable as cliché and the plot too wanders into repetitive territory, there is entertainment taking place. The action is often a means to an end and yet the charisma of Diesel and the occasional interesting character moment or scene still made for an enjoyable movie.
-----This film really doesn’t deserve 3 starts or a rent-it rating, but I’m going on faith that the director and Vin weren’t just cutting their losses and separating themselves from the project. I’m suggesting a renting solely if a director’s cut is released. Otherwise, stay away, you’ll feel like you missed something in the last half hour that you didn’t. Unfortunately, despite megahits like the two and a half hour ‘The Dark Knight,’ companies are still weary of long run times. Hasn’t someone figured out, if it’s a good film, people will come regardless of the runtime? Unfortunately, ‘Babylon A.D. and its all too short 93 minutes of runtime seem to be the victim of an overbearing studio that ruined a film. So see the directors’ cut DVD!
