Will Woods Reviews “Babylon A.D.”

by Will Woods on Aug.29, 2008, under Will Woods' Brain

Science-Fiction is at its best when it takes elements of current society and stretches them to unlikely but logical extremes. The fantastic events that occur don’t always have to be believable, but the metaphor does. “Babylon A.D.” plays at painting a future in which religion and corporations struggle to control government but this background never seems to impact the story in a compelling way. Director, Mathieu Kassovitz, does seem to pay a lot of attention to the look and feel of the film, but it is not enough to carry the story. No doubt, a director’s cut DVD is in the future for this movie, but that doesn’t help theater goers.

Vin Diesel provides a solid but standard performance as Toorop, a mercenary hired to take Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) and her charge, Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) from Russia to New York. Of course, mayhem ensues and Toorop must protect the women from would be kidnappers, other mercenaries and heat seeking missiles. A nearly unrecognizable Gérard Depardieu appears briefly as Gorsky, a Russian mob boss who hires Toorop for the mission.

This is not a bad film, but it is standard action fare in which the hero runs from point A to point B and gets shot at in-between. Nothing is wrong with that, but nothing more interesting than that happens. The fight scenes at least don’t resort to fast paced shaky camera movement that prevent the audience from knowing a fight is even going on. Although Parkour seems to be Hollywood’s new found Kung Fu, the use of Parkour stunts in “Babylon A.D.” don’t seem to add anything other than a Parkour Coordinator to the credits. David Belle is the Parkour Coordinator as well as the founder of the French movement discipline. It is unfortunate his work could not be a more integral part of the film instead of a gimmick.

One gimmick that actually serves the film well was a contest held by the director in which the general public could submit futuristic advertising and news reports to be used in the movie’s background. This contest could have some interesting implications in the future of film making.

“Babylon A.D.” is not a bad morning spent for hardcore Vin Diesel fans or fans of the genre, but the general public may find more entertaining ways using 90 minutes. At the very least, fans will enjoy sitting around and discussing what this movie “could have been” and how much they look forward to a director’s cut DVD.

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