Babylon A.D. (2008)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writers:

Eric Besnard (writer)
Maurice G. Dantec (novel)

Release Date:

29 August 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Veteran-turned-mercenary Toorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to America. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a genetically modified Messiah. |

Plot Keywords:

Organism | Cult | Russia | Host | Harvest

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 25	12:00 PM	MAX
Sat. July 25	8:30 PM	MAX

Cast

Vin Diesel	...	Toorop
Michelle Yeoh	...	Sister Rebeka
Mélanie Thierry	...	Aurora
Gérard Depardieu	...	Gorsky
Charlotte Rampling	...	High Priestess
Mark Strong	...	Finn
Lambert Wilson	...	Darquandier
Jérôme Le Banner	...	Killa
Joel Kirby	...	Dr. Newton
Souleymane Dicko	...	Jamal
David Belle	...	Kid with Tattoos
Radek Bruna	...	Karl
Jan Unger	...	Fight Promoter
Abraham Belaga	...	Assistant to High Priestess
Gary Cowan	...	Neolite Executive

Also Known As:

Babylon Babies (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, language and some sexuality.

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA | France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44122) | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-13 | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Sweden:15 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Peru:14 | Australia:M | Singapore:NC-16 (extended version) | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

Gérard Depardieu is dubbed.

Goofs:

Continuity: The location of the monastery is initially given as Mongolia but later, in the news report in the apartment in New York, it is said to be Kyrgyzstan, which would match with the coordinates given early on in the movie. Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are separated by a 600 mile wide section of China.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Toorop: Save the Planet.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

Build Your Enemies

Not That Bad... Not That Great, But Not Bad

It was decent. The action sequences were definitely a bit choppy, especially the first one. Also, there were a few times when I had to go "Is that even physically possible?" and the ending left a few loose ends still left, so I was sort of disappointed with that.

If you don't pay attention, you will hate this movie. It moves fairly quickly, so once you miss something, it's gone and you will be lost. So pay attention. The story is actually pretty good and actually feels down to earth, which is more than I can say about quite a few sci-fi movies.

For the record, I went into this movie not expecting much more than average, and I was slightly surprised. If you go in expecting the next academy award winner, you will completely despise it. It is no Dark Knight, so don't expect it to be. There's not much there artistically, so, if you don't like a movie simply trying to be entertaining for the sake of being entertaining, then you won't like this one. All in all, it was a good watch, not entirely worth the price for a new movie, so I suggest waiting until it comes to the cheaper theaters (if you have one near by).

As another note (and I'll probably get some heat for this) I actually enjoy Vin Diesel as an actor. This is not his best performance, but it's certainly not his worst (even though I still moderately enjoyed Chronicles of Riddick, I admit it was pretty bad and to this day I still don't know why I like it.) I think Diesel is good at what he does, although he really hasn't been in anything that really blows me away, even my favorite Diesel film (Pitch Black) wasn't completely stunning, but it was really good. With that in mind, this is a Vin Diesel movie, so, if you're not like me and you don't like Diesel, you will not like this movie and should just steer clear of it.