Babylon A.D., more like Babylon B.A.D.

[Guy Gardener]

Remember in Big, when Tom Hanks says that he doesn't get the Buildings that turn into Robots? How he didn't get how this should be, or why it is fun?

I don't get why they made this movie, I don't get why they made it so badly, and i don't get why they thought they could pretend that it wasn't a remake of the 5th Element. I don't get the contrived bullshit that had these quasi religious buggers create the girl, and I don't get how they thought they could hide her in a church with the evil nuns name slapped on the front for twenty years but the hunt starts the second she leaves the convent, I don't get why they picked an idiot to do this job, and i don't get why she had to be in New York except the Mother was too lazy to travel and I don't get why they needed to cross the border like peasants since it was their coyote who was the only person banned and I don't get why they had to kill Vin and Michelle, or blow up the convent, or... None of it made sense.

I think this movie raped me.

 

[zakkrusz]

I'm going to have to agree. It's an incredible waste of potential that ended up being utter garbage.

 

[LutherSloan]

I'm glad I was one of those who was smart enough to avoid a film like this.

 

[Guy Gardener]

i remember the episode of Picket fences where the local Priest artificially inseminated a teen coma patient to fake a virgin birth and revitalize the Catholic church.

Good times.

Not that they were used, but the words "Born pregnant" is McCoy talking about Tribbles.

And last week on Private practice was all abotu a girl wanting revirginification surgery where they would build and attach a new Hymen... Considering the tech to make this girl is 20 years old, what she can do should be a surprise to no one, if a knuckle dragging thug like Vin can explain cloned Tigers.

 

[Reverend]

So it's as naff as the trailer made it look? Glad I skipped it.

 

[God Magnus]

Having just seen it, I will say this for it, the production design was nice. I liked the way it took us from setting to setting. The run down settings of Europe and so on and small technological touches like the scrolling displays on the taxi were very cool. Most of the action was exciting as well.

I am very curious however about the supposed missing half hour from the film. I didn't hate it, but I felt like there was a chunk of story missing. What was the big deal about the Nolites(sp?)? Could we have gotten a better explanation of Aurora's abilities other than the rather weak one we got? Why was Vin's character branded a terrorist to begin with? It's hard to enjoy a movie when all these types of questions are going through your brain.

 

[DarKush]

The production values, the look of the film was nice. The characters had potential, but there were huge chunks left out of this film, the editing was horrible.

I just don't see that Church giving up after failing to catch them one time. I also didn't understand why the girl's children had powers, why one was white and one was black, or even why the girl died.

A Director's Cut or extended cut might fill in some of the gaps.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Unless I missed a lot because I was crying blood too much, the girl was clone meat made to be better with a computer mind with huge reams of preinstalled data. What ever other powers she got from that were incidental. The Church wanted a Virgin birth to rally behind since it worked so fantastically well for the Christain's a few millennia earlier even though it was probably a compounded translation error or Mary was lying to avoid being beaten and stoned for being a slapper. Woman were really brutalized for the mildest indiscretions back then, which is on par with the Indian fancy these days that it is still a little common to say that rape victims are murdered by family members to avoid embarrassment to the clan, and ditto for the fundamentalist Muslims who need 5 male witnesses to corroborate a rape charge too given by a woman, and probably a dozen other cultures I know even less about are just as thugish and backward about womans rights.

The Doctor impregnated Aurora with a "pill" which also drove her a little crazy.

This is the sort of master plan end game that could only be designed by someone with unwaverable faith in the divine with their head a little too up their own ass to note that most people would ask why God needs a Star Ship no matter what bland miracle tried to dazzle them.

I have to wonder further with all the bullshit that passes for miracles these days if David Copperfield might one day be sainted? Certainly he could fake being the son of god in front of the most persecutorial scrutiny if ever he needed to superficially.

I'm only insulting half the world right now, because this is what the stupid movie is about.

 

[Cutter John]

Well apparently most of the civilzed world agrees with you guys. this thing was in theaters for like what? A week?

 

[JoeZhang]

This is what the director thought of the film:

"I never had a chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way I wanted it to be. The script wasn't respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience."

But according to Kassovitz, Babylon A.D. fails to deliver any of these messages. "It's pure violence and stupidity," he admits. "The movie is supposed to teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet. All the action scenes had a goal: They were supposed to be driven by either a metaphysical point of view or experience for the characters... instead parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24."

The last stroke, Kassovitz says, was when Fox interfered with the editing of the film, paring it down to a confusing 93 minutes (original reports were that 70 minutes were cut from the film; Kassovitz says the number is closer to 15).

http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/2008/08/babylon-ad-mathieu-kassovitz.php

 

[MarianLH]

I am very curious however about the supposed missing half hour from the film. I didn't hate it, but I felt like there was a chunk of story missing. What was the big deal about the Nolites(sp?)? Could we have gotten a better explanation of Aurora's abilities other than the rather weak one we got? Why was Vin's character branded a terrorist to begin with? It's hard to enjoy a movie when all these types of questions are going through your brain.

You could always read the book.


Marian

 

[God Magnus]

You could always read the book.

That's not necessarily true is it? Most books differ from their onscreen adaptations even if certain themes carry through. I trust "Babylon Babies" and "Babylon A.D." probably have key differences from each other, and it still wouldn't answer how different the film would be if the director's original cut had been used.

 

[Twilight]

This movie...

...ahem...


suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked.

 

[Plain Simple]

Well, the look and feeling of the film were nice. But yeah, the story made little to no sense as it was presented. It still helped me pass some time on a long air flight though.