Babylon A.D. (2008)

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.

Director:

Mathieu Kassovitz

Writers:

Maurice G. Dantec (novel), Mathieu Kassovitz (screenplay)

Stars:

Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Mélanie Thierry

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vin Diesel	...	Toorop
Michelle Yeoh	...	Sister Rebeka
Mélanie Thierry	...	Aurora
Gérard Depardieu	...	Gorsky
Charlotte Rampling	...	The 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

Storyline

In a near future, the mercenary Toorop is hired by the powerful criminal Gorsky to take a woman named Aurora from a Noelite Convent in Central Asia to New York. In return, he will receive a large amount of money and a clear passport. Toorop joins Aurora and her guardian Sister Rebeka as they cross the dangerous Russian landscape chased by mercenaries that also want Aurora. On their journey, Toorop discovers that Aurora has special abilities and once in New York, they see on the news that the Noelite Convent has just been bombed. When Aurora discloses that she is a virgin and pregnant with twins, Toorop realizes that there is something sinister behind his mission and that he and Sister Rebeka are not part of Gorsky's plans.

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Plot Keywords:

pregnant | veteran turned mercenary | cult | street shootout | road movie | 

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Taglines:

Save the World One Child at a Time.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mathieu Kassovitz later released a documentary called Fucking Kassovitz (2011) covering the production.

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Goofs

The Noelite Convent appears for the first time with the location 41°10'N and 74°46'E, identified as Mongolia. According to Google Earth, that location is a mountain in Kyrgyzstan, more than 1000 km from the Mongolian border.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Toorop: [voice-over] Save the planet. Whenever I've read that bumper sticker I've had to laugh. Save the planet. What for? And for what, ourselves? What about God, can He help us? I don't think so. God gave us what we have to see how we use it. Shit, rats in a cage would have done it better. Life's a bitch and then you die - bumper sticker philosophy. Yeah, right. Sometimes, you get a second chance.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD release in America is 2-sided. On one side is the "Theatrical version" and on the other side is an unrated version. Both have different endings. The unrated version also has some added footage, deleted scenes, and extended scenes.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

Our Power
Performed by The Red Army Choir
Written by Boris Aleksandrov (as B. Alexandrov), A. Chilov
Arranged by Dimitri Oleg Yachinov
Courtesy of FGL Productions S.A.
Published by Editions FGL

User Reviews

Sadly average

I should say first that I don't know the book this movie is adapted from, so I just mean to give an opinion on the movie itself and the way it's handled.

Director Mathieu Kassovitz has been in the business for a while now and is a well complete actor as well and still something about this project went wrong. The story itself seems solid - and somewhat I can imagine the book being just great - but the movie looks rushed with only the most important and visual parts shown.

Actually, it's a kind of annoying experience as you can see how really good it could have been if they only did a better job on the background and the storytelling instead of mixing everything from the book in an action packed movie. Now being totally honest, the action isn't great at all thanks to the shaky hand cam effect (The Bourne Legacy I guess ...) and uninspired choreography. Same goes for the acting : Depardieu and Wilson are easily the worst : they would have read the script for the first time it wouldn't have surprise me.

Considering all the good material it certainly feels like a misproduction, someone said the director and actor Vin Diesel were having different opinions and I do hope the latter won because if Kassovitz did it the way he wanted I'd be really disappointed.

We've been awarded with such great movies around the same kind of subject (Children of Men to name one) that this one seems pale compared to those.

Details

Country:

France UK USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

29 August 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Babylon Babies

Filming Locations:

Sweden

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,484,627, 31 August 2008

Gross USA:

$22,532,572

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$72,109,200

Company Credits

Production Co:

Babylon, MNP Entreprise, StudioCanal

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 101 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1