Babylon A.D.
Review
by Clint Morris
Remember ordering your lunch from the school
canteen?
You would write what you want on a paper bag, put your money inside it
and then hand it to one of the lovely mums behind the counter to be
picked up later that day.
And you would always
get exactly what you wanted - just what you paid for.
Wouldn't it be nice if films were like that?
You'd put your fourteen bucks in a paper bag, write on the bag what you
would like to get for your money, and then two hours later feel
completely satisfied because you had recieved everything you asked for.
Vin Diesel's latest picture Babylon A.D is the
school lunch order you put in without remembering to write down your
order. As a consequence, someone else decides what you would probably
like to get.
That someone, in this case, is the studio behind the picture. Not
surprisingly the director, Matthieu Kassovitz, has been quite vocal in
his dislike for the finished product and not ashamed to point the blame
finger at FOX Studios.
FOX came to the conclusion that what audiences would like to see here
is something fast, full of action and devoid of any kind of character
development or brainteasing plot.
"It's got Vin Diesel in it - let's just make it Fast and the Furious
in the Future!".
According to Kassovitz, who also directed Gothika
and La Haine,
that was never the intention.
The studio took what was otherwise a plot-heavy epic, extracted the
intelligent stuff from it, and left the fluffy action-stuff.
And yes, he's right. But the filmmaker is also too close to the
finished product to see that it still stands up as an entertaining
action movie in its own right. He says it's now like a "bad episode of 24". Thing is, even
those "bad" episodes of 24
are entertaining - they're never boring; always fast and fun.
Kassovitz's comments would make you believe you're about to watch this
year's Battlefield
Earth, when really, it's nowhere near that bad.
Based on a book called Babylon
Babies, the film stars Vin Diesel (in what he hoped would
be his comeback vehicle) as a Veteran-turned-mercenary, Thoorop, who
takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman (Mélanie Thierry) and her
assistant (Michelle Yeoh), from Russia to America. Little does he know
that she is host to a life form that a cult wants to harvest in order
to produce a genetically modified Messiah.
Whilst it is evident this could have been a much bigger and better
movie (say something along the lines of Children of Men)
there's still a fun movie here.
The action sequences are brisk and beautiful, the production design is
astonishing, and for the most part, Diesel is quite good as our
tough-as-nails savior. In fact, it's not until the half way point that
the film does take that unfortunate misstep of forgetting about the
interesting scenario it has expertly set up and instead launches
full-speed into "just another sci-fi actioner" territory.
It feels like two separate movies - one that's very, very entertaining,
and another that's merely OK. The profusion has understandably upset
the director.
That first hour or so of Babylon
A.D is actually very good - the film resembling sort of
a xXx
meets Bladerunner.
Some of the grand-scale action sequences (particularly the submarine
scene) are absolutely amazing. There is also a terrific speeder-bike
race (always thinking like a Star Wars nut)
across the snowy Alps that's a lot of fun, and is somewhat reminiscent
of something from Diesel's xXx.
It's in the second hour that things take a turn for the worst - the
plot not only makes a monotonous turn, but a not-so-interesting one
too.
There is such a build up... and whats revealed to be going on is both
rather ho-hum and unsatisfactory. In addition, the film seems to race
for it's finish line after about the 60 minute mark - indicating that
there has obviously been a chunk of stuff left on the cutting room
floor around the middle of the film that the studio didn't see fit to
leave in.
Still, Babylon
A.D is far from the worst film of the year and plays quite
well as a bare-bones genre film. I think it'll find a new lease of life
on DVD.
3 out
of 5
Babylon
A.D.
Australian release: 2nd October,
2008
Official
Site: Babylon A.D.
Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh,
Mélanie Thierry, Gérard Depardieu
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
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