• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Babylon A.D. - Not Bad!

TremblingBluStar

TremblingBluStar

Vice Admiral
Admiral
I was half expecting to see the cinema equivalent of dried vomit, after seeing how the latest Vin Diesil film has one of the lowest RT ratings ever! (though only slightly lower than Bancock Dangerous) However, I was mildly surprised to find that the film wasn't bad at all! But then, unlike most professional film critics, I like Vin Diesil. I don't care for his now famous though guy who doesn't care about anything routine, but I recognize that when he does tackle serious roles he is a pretty good actor!

So why was this film so universally panned by critics? Are people simply sick of dystopian futures? I mean, one critic compared the film to Battlefield Earth, which is just wrong on so many levels!

I will say, though, that the ending of Babylon A.D. was sort of a letdown. It feels as if the film were chopped up to make a 90 minute runtime - which is was if you believe what the director now claims. Thus, there may be a longer, more fleshed out, more epic film that we didn't get to see. Or one we won't see until the DVD release.

I personally eagerly await to see if the film is somewhat restored for DVD.

Oh, and Melanie Thierry is nice to look at. :)
 
I was very interested in seeing the film up until the director started talking about fighting with the studio. I decided then to wait and rent it instead of finding the time to see it in a theater.
 
I found it kind of boring personally and the characters pretty flat and hollow. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters at all. As for the story, it was okay, but the movie itself as a whole feels like only the first half of a book.
 
Well of course it can't be that bad. It's got a 7% higher Rotten Tomatoes score than Disaster Movie!

Of course, Disaster Movie is currently at 0%, but still...
 
PsychoPere said:
I was very interested in seeing the film up until the director started talking about fighting with the studio. I decided then to wait and rent it instead of finding the time to see it in a theater.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I don't think it's something that needs to be seen in the theater. But then, even direct to video releases score higher than 7% on RT.

I can't help but feel that if the film were starring someone more critic friendly - like Shia Lebouf - it would have scored quite a bit higher.
 
I like Vin too, but even he couldn't save this film. The editing was horrible. The last 30 minutes of the movie just didn't make much sense, and it robbed the film from at least being a decent, sci-fi B-movie.

Spoilers.....

I mean, why would the Priestess/Mother Superior or whoever the church lady was stop hunting Vin and the girl? Why did the kids have powers? What was the connection between the AI in the girl's head and I guess telekinetic powers of her children? Why was one kid white and the other black?

How did Vin get the girl to the hospital? How much time had elasped between her giving birth, her death, and the end? The poor editing job just left too many questions.

Someone at the theater asked, "Is that the end?" And I couldn't have agreed more. BAD was an incomplete film.

Also, what was the deal with Vin and the girl and the near kiss? It seemed like a dropped plotline-one of many. And why was Vin banned from the US? It would've been nice to get an explanation for that.
 
Hey, after 4 Fast 4 Furious is a hit, it'll give him the power to make the kind of movies he really wants to make... like The Pacifier.
 
DarKush said:
I like Vin too, but even he couldn't save this film. The editing was horrible. The last 30 minutes of the movie just didn't make much sense, and it robbed the film from at least being a decent, sci-fi B-movie.
Click to expand...
That is pretty much what I said above. The film felt like it was chopped all to hell, and scenes that answer your questions were left on the cutting room floor (well, maybe not the ethnicity of the children).

I mean, why would the Priestess/Mother Superior or whoever the church lady was stop hunting Vin and the girl?
Click to expand...
I don't know. Maybe because they are no use to her already born - meaning they can't be the new messiahs of her religion if they are 3-4 years old.
 
The ending to "Babylon A.D." destroyed whatever minimal pleasure I derived from what preceded it. Talk about piss-poor editing, among other things.

Gatekeeper
 
I didn't like it at all, but I don't particularly like Vin Diesel, so I thought I was judging it harshly, until my friend said it was shite. He's the sort of guy who never says that, mostly says "Ah same old, same old." or "Well it was entertaining if you switch your brain off."
 
Gatekeeper said:
The ending to "Babylon A.D." destroyed whatever minimal pleasure I derived from what preceded it. Talk about piss-poor editing, among other things.
Click to expand...
Well, if they wanted to pass off an ending with a resolution that comes out of nowhere and that makes very little sense they should have simply done what The Matrix writers did and say "oh, it's based on anime. That's why it doesn't make sense. Yeah!"

But then they would have to get Vin to do some martial arts.
 
Hate on the movie as much as you want,but you might want to know, Vin Diesel is a fanboy at heart. He even admitted in an interview to being a D&D player. Which I don't think many "action movie" stars would admit to unless they ment it. At least he tries to get interesting Sci-fi movies made. Not all of them can pan out though..
 
I gave it one out of four Milk Duds on the air. My lowest rating is one-half. I gave it an extra half because some of the art direction was really good and some of the concepts were interesting (though horribly unfinished).

But probably some of the worst storytelling ever. Choppy, scattered, interesting elements and characters virtually ignored after being introduced.

What a mess.

--Ted
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top