Babylon A.D. definitely had the potential to be much better than it turned out to be. Unfortunately for most of us here in the United States, the only version available (the uncut version was released in Europe) is the one director Mathieu Kassovitz publicly disowned, calling it “pure violence and stupidity”. According to reports across the web, is was the direct result of 20th Century Fox constantly meddling with the direction and vision Kassovitz had for his once most coveted production.
The only version I was able to find was the US release. Although B.A.D. (haha I made a funny) wasn’t as horrid as many of critics stated it would be, it definitely left me hanging and wanting to know more. The energy level of the film was good as was its pacing, but it definitely lacked the cohesiveness and dialogue I would expect from a Kassovitz film. I guess we can’t put all the blame on Kass since it wasn’t his final call, but it definitely tarnishes his image regardless of how you put it.
Then there was the star of the film, the Diesel. Vinny definitely seems to be stuck in a rut right now, and to be honest with everyone, if you’ve seen Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, you’ve seen this character. He’s just on Earth instead of Helion Prime. Michelle Yeoh who co-stars beside Vinny is decent in her role as Sister Rebeka, but never takes charge of any scene. She seems to act more like a backdrop rather than a co-star. Finally there is Mélanie Thierry. She definitely has the potential to do well in the American Film industry, and hopefully we’ll see more of her. She’s very attractive and reminded me so much of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) in the film The 5th Element. (Now that was some great Sci-Fi. Multipass!)
Overall, I thought this film was decent enough. It not something I would highly recommend, but if your a Sci Fi fan like myself, it may be something you can sit through on a lazy Sunday afternoon on the couch.
I saw both the US release and the “Unrated” version… not much difference. I felt like you did – I was hanging, wanting more from both the story and the characters.
If a sequel (or prequel) was made I’d still watch it… I’m a sucker :)
I’m with you on this Trench. What is up with Vinny? Didn’t anyone tell him as soon as you do a kid movie your career goes down the drain. After seeing this movie, I could kind of see where the director was coming from. The executives at FOX are playing it too safe and it’s costing a lot of fans headaches. The masses are finally starting to appreciate films with dark tones. Babylon A.D. could’ve been a good movie, maybe even better than Children of Men, but there was no character development or logical explanations to anything. I managed to stay interested but I felt it really could’ve been better.
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Form the trailer alone the film looks pretty promising. The actual film falls pretty flat though. So many good ideas that just couldn’t be translated to the screen.
@CRS, most of the blame was put on Fox. I heard it was translated pretty well in its original format.
I read about something like that too. Apparently nobody was happy with the final cut so it was chopped repeatedly. I liked the pitch black series and think that riddick is his best role to date. Too bad for this film- the highlight was the opening track with the RZA…at least that had me pumped!
@ choco…Haha I agree. once that duck bit his ear I said to myself “this guy’s career is over!”
Hopefully the Fast and the Furious will fix this bad streak…
I watched the first two thirds of this film and will wait for the full version to come out. I love the world that was created and the atmosphere. The book has to be very entertaining to read.
The studio apparently cut 70 minutes of Mathieu Kassovitz’s original version, against his wishes, to get to a running time of 93 minutes.
The film is based on a novel, Babylon Babies, by Maurice Georges Dantec.
I want to read the book and then see the 163 minute version.
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