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Babylon AD

Posted by james on

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Vin Diesel in a futuristic "save the world" flick. Ugh. I watched it anyway, though I wasn't expecting much after seeing the rating. This, in a word, is a confusing movie. It's a bit different from most of this genre in that it tries to branch out a bit, starting with the Diesel in dystopian eastern europe. A bit gritty, but downhill from there. None of the characters make sense (why is Michelle Yeoh a karate-fighting yet peaceful monk?) and the transitions feel like entire pieces of the film were cutout (we go from hardened mercenary to... respectable hero? When did that happen?). There were a lot of suggestions as to what the plot was, little hints of mystery and conspiracy... then some confusing action sequences, and then the END OF THE FILM. What the heck just happened??? It seems like the film was a giant game of telephone: each scene was then described to the person responsible for the following scene, and they just threw everything together to see what happened. Not much.

After reading this interview with director Mathieu Kassovitz, it makes more sense. A director trying to adapt a very deep political book, then shackled by a bad studio until the movie ended up being nothing like what he intended. Poor guy, finally got to do his favorite book and then he was forced to ruin it.