Babylon A.D.

Children of Men, with an IQ lowered to the level of xXx. If you found Cuarón’s work too clever and technically inventive and you felt disappointed that Clive Owen didn’t shoot anything over the entire course of the movie, Kassovitz and Diesel will make it up to you. This is the crème de la crème of apocalyptic sci-fi B-movie trash (like Ultraviolet, Soldier, etc.), worthy of a solid two stars. (26.01.2009)

The decent subject matter, the charismatic Diesel, and the excellent action are all buried by an idiotic script, for which concepts like character motivation, meaningful dialogue, or plot continuity are completely unknown. It would have made for a decent post-apocalyptic PC shooter, but this film is a case of someone letting someone else mess with their craft more than they should have. At least the final ten minutes are clear evidence of incompetent intervention in the final form of the film. The three-hour version potentially deserves four stars. (25.10.2008)

That was pretty crazy, especially the ending. Okay, somehow we got through Russia, Canada and presto change-o to the USA, the promised land where everyone wants you for themselves. The beginning was still kind of going, but then it got pretty scary. We don't really learn anything, nothing gets cleared up. It's a shame, because it definitely had some potential, but it was sunk to the bottom of Lake Baikal. I probably should have watched the unedited version. (09.08.2009)

When watching Babylon, I brought to mind two titles, namely Paycheck by John Woo, where I marveled at how an ingenious idea from an A-list sci-fi short story could be turned into an action brawler where the original idea somehow gets lost, and especially Children of Men, which Babylon reminds me of with its subject matter. While Children of Men had a perfect script and perfect direction, but from my perspective, a somewhat problematic theme that alienates itself from the sci-fi genre, Babylon has a great theme with an idea that has the potential of a hydrogen bomb, but terrible direction and above all, a desperately trashy script that gives up even the elementary logic that similar pieces have in B-movie spheres. The struggles of the characters are like a committed vegetarian trying to open a can of meat using a box of dynamite shells. What remains is the set design that truly evokes the impression of a chaotic world, which would be a great place for an adventure story to unfold. Several actors who can act and have probably taken this engagement under the pressure of a bank, which threatened to foreclose on their ranch, and several scenes that may not connect are entertaining on their own - if one turns off their brain and forgets that they have seen them somewhere else. By the way, the aforementioned Paycheck is a fascinating film experience compared to this, and it deserves a victory at a festival. Overall impression: 15%. (19.11.2010)

Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh and Mélanie Thierry try as hard as they can, but fight an unfair battle against the weak screenplay and dumb lines. The overall impression is slightly improved by the production design, but can’t get any more out of it than slightly above-average entertainment. (05.10.2008)

It's nice that in Babylon you can feel the European touch of director Mathieu Kassovitz, especially, the opening scenes of a heavily bombed Southern Europe are cool. But as the story moves west, it gets worse and worse. The action is too far-fetched, even though Vin Diesel delivers cool lines – it's not difficult for him with his charisma – but I am not entertained by him as an indestructible machine. The plot is also bad, leading to a tragic and meaningless ending. The incredibly choreographed cage fight and a few technically well-executed skirmishes guarantee to draw you out of lethargy, but it doesn't save the whole thing from being a mediocre result. (29.01.2009)

No, this really is not it. Even though I really like Vin Diesel, this film simply didn't turn out well. The actors have terrible roles here, which could still be overlooked if it were a bit funny, but the film takes itself incredibly seriously and instead of offering the expected action spectacle, it offers a pseudo-intelligent, philosophical script that doesn't work because it doesn't say anything. (24.06.2016)