Directed by:
Mathieu KassovitzCinematography:
Thierry ArbogastComposer:
Atli ÖrvarssonCast:
Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Gérard Depardieu, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Strong, Mélanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Jan Unger, Radek Bruna, David Belle (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Toorop (Vin Diesel) has fought many battles and survived the wars that have devastated the world since the early 21st century. The Mafia that controls Eastern Europe gives the mercenary a high-risk assignment: to escort a mysterious young woman named Aurora from Russia to New York, where he must hand her over to an all-powerful religious cult... (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (7)
Children of Men, with an IQ lowered to the level of xXx. If you found Cuarón’s work too clever and technically inventive and you felt disappointed that Clive Owen didn’t shoot anything over the entire course of the movie, Kassovitz and Diesel will make it up to you. This is the crème de la crème of apocalyptic sci-fi B-movie trash (like Ultraviolet, Soldier, etc.), worthy of a solid two stars.
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It's nice that in Babylon you can feel the European touch of director Mathieu Kassovitz, especially, the opening scenes of a heavily bombed Southern Europe are cool. But as the story moves west, it gets worse and worse. The action is too far-fetched, even though Vin Diesel delivers cool lines – it's not difficult for him with his charisma – but I am not entertained by him as an indestructible machine. The plot is also bad, leading to a tragic and meaningless ending. The incredibly choreographed cage fight and a few technically well-executed skirmishes guarantee to draw you out of lethargy, but it doesn't save the whole thing from being a mediocre result.
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That was pretty crazy, especially the ending. Okay, somehow we got through Russia, Canada and presto change-o to the USA, the promised land where everyone wants you for themselves. The beginning was still kind of going, but then it got pretty scary. We don't really learn anything, nothing gets cleared up. It's a shame, because it definitely had some potential, but it was sunk to the bottom of Lake Baikal. I probably should have watched the unedited version.
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No way. Not this. As much as I like Vin Diesel, this movie just didn't work. The actors here have terrible roles, which could be bearable if it were a bit funny, but the film takes itself incredibly seriously. Instead of offering the expected action spectacle, it has a pseudo-intellectual, philosophical screenplay that doesn't work because it doesn't say anything.
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The decent subject matter, the charismatic Diesel, and the excellent action are all buried by an idiotic script, for which concepts like character motivation, meaningful dialogue, or plot continuity are completely unknown. It would have made for a decent post-apocalyptic PC shooter, but this film is a case of someone letting someone else mess with their craft more than they should have. At least the final ten minutes are clear evidence of incompetent intervention in the final form of the film. The three-hour version potentially deserves four stars.
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