Babylon A.D. review

Babylon A.D. (2008)

DVD Released: 1/6/2009
1/2
1/2

Criticize by Mike Long, Posted on 1/8/2009
In back of surreptitiously in 1989, I had to choose a CD to fulfill
my membership with Columbia House, so I took a chance on the band Babylon A.D..
They played a brand of trifle-metal which was in no way original, but was noiseless
satisfying. Speaking of things which worn to be cool, Vin Diesel was a risky
commodity in the early partake of of this decade after starring in movies type

Set Black

,

The Fast and the Furious

, and

xXx

. These two
ideas oddly relate to together as Diesel returns to the age of science-fiction with
the film

Babylon A.D.

. Will this superficial film create a comeback as regards the
actor, or will it be another forgettable outing?

Diesel stars in

Babylon A.D.

as Toorop, a mercenary living in New
Serbia in the not too distant future. He's an expatriate American who has been
banned from his homeland for being a terrorist. Gorsky (Gerard Depardieu) offers
Toorop a job to deliver a package to the U.S.. He will be given a falsified
passport which will allow him to enter the country. Toorop agrees and learns
that he will be transporting a young woman named Aurora (Melanie Thierry) and
her caretaker, Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh), from an isolated convent to New
York City. Things are awkward at first, as Aurora has never been outside the
convent and is overwhelmed not only by the world, but by the brash Toorop. Their
journey isn't easy either, as this is a decaying and barbaric world, and Toorop
must fight or scheme their way through several stops. As their journey
progresses, Toorop begins to realize that there is something unusual about
Aurora, and he'll soon learn that several factions will do what ever it takes to
apprehend her.

There's nothing wrong with a movie being multi-faceted. Be it an
action/comedy or a comedy/drama, anytime that a film wants to bring in different
parts to liven things up, it's a good thing. But, when a movie has multiple
personalities, that's something else entirely.

Babylon A.D.

follows the
typical three-act arc of a movie, but the three acts feel as if they've come
from three different movies.

The first part of the movie feels like any other bleak future movie. It's
very dark and murky, everyone is dirty, and there's a general sense that the
world is an awful place. The middle section of the film is more of an action
movie, but even this feels like it's culled from different genre. The
cage-fighting match at the train-station resembles something from

Mad Max
Beyond Thunderdome

, while the snowmobile chase could have been pulled from a
James Bond film. The third act, takes a sudden turn into a more dramatic and
science-fiction driven realm, and the viewer is suddenly bombarded with new
characters and subplots. Not plot twists really, but entirely new stories. The
result is a movie which never finds its footing, and thus, probably won't
satisfy many viewers. For example, you may love the middle, but hate the
beginning and ending.

The version of

Babylon A.D.

presented on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc runs
some 11 minutes longer than the version shown in U.S. theaters. (The box
proclaims it to be "Raw and Uncut".) I didn't see the movie in the theater, so I
can't comment on the differences. What I can say is that this doesn't appear to
be a Director's Cut, as rumor has it that director Mathieu Kassovitz walked off
of the project after having creative differences with Fox. So, we must assume
that this version is someone's attempt to piece together a longer cut of the
film based on the available footage. With this, we get a movie which shows
promise, but can't deliver. Based on what little I knew about

Babylon A.D.

,
I'd expected it to be terrible, but the action scenes are very well-done and the
whole thing looks quite expensive. However, it all falls apart at the end when
the story suddenly shifts and far too much new information is thrown at the
audience. Instead of adding new footage, they should have simply has someone
appear on-screen and explain to us what is supposed to be happening.

Perhaps the greatest problem with

Babylon A.D.

is that it will remind
the viewer of so many other movies. Elements of

Escape from New York

,

Waterworld

,

Children of Men

,

Ultraviolet

, and the
aforementioned

Mad Max

films abound in the movie. (Although, it must be
said that the way in which Toorop gets to the convent was a new one.) But the
lack of originality would have been forgivable, had the film found any truly
satisfying conclusions. As it stands,

Babylon A.D.

will only impress
those who were dying to see Vin Diesel return to the action genre. The stunts
are impressive and the movie has a wide scope, but it simply peters out.

has a ridiculously mysterious voice on DVD courtesy of 20th
Century Fox Home Performance. The take has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the
transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing no
distracting grain and no defects from the source material. Even the snowbound
scenes grant no grain, which is impressive. The colors are good, but the image is
a jot misty at times. The DVD offers a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which
provides unmistakable dialogue and sound effects. The stereo and surround effects are
very elevated and the proceeding scenes truly circle the viewer in sound. The subwoofer
effects are full as jet, as the explosions produce a nice rumble.

The

Babylon A.D.

DVD contains several extras. "Babylon Babies" (11
minutes) contains comments from author Maurice G. Dantec, who wrote the film's
source novel,

Babylon Babies

. He talks about the book, explaining how he
viewed the story, and his involvement with the film. Dantec goes on about the
themes of the book, getting way out there at times, but never gives an opinion
on the movie. Stunt coordinator Bob Brown discusses the snowmobile scenes and
introduces us to "Slednecks" in "Arctic Escape" (12 minutes). "Fit for the
Screen" (7 minutes) again features Brown, this time talking about the
cage-fighting scene. "Hummers in Flight" (8 minutes) offers stunt coordinator
Kenny Bates explaining how a car-chase scene was done. "

Babylon A.D.

Commercials" (3 minutes) offers seven brief ads, which I guess were visible in
the background of the film. The DVD offers one DELETED SCENE, which runs about 2
1/2 minutes — oddly, it's the car chase featured in "Hummers in Flight". We
also get a STILL GALLERY. The final extra is "Prequel to

Babylon A.D.

:
Genesis of Aurora" (5 minutes), which is a partially animated graphic novel.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has also brought
Babylon A.D.
to
Blu-flicker Disc
.
The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD
remove which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The idea is totally sharp and explicate,
showing no patent grain and no defects from the source material. The film's slick
look is well represented in this take, as the duplicate has a nice crispness
to it and the straight of detail is quite good. The picture has proper depth and is
not at all too dark or bright. The one issue that I well-known was that meat tones look
a bit waxy in some shots. The Disc holds a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which
runs at 48 kHz and an typically of 3.5 Mbps. This stalk provides clear huddle
and sound effects. We have another good track from Fox here, as the stereo
effects are very complicated and conduct good stereo rift. The surround unmarred is
constant in some scenes, and the functioning scenes really benefit from it. The
subwoofer effects are outstanding, providing wall-shaking bass. Overall, a probity BD
wrap.
The Blu-ray Disc contains the same extras as the DVD, added to "Bonusview"
which offers picture-in-facsimile interviews and behind-the-scenes footage for
particular moments in the glaze.