There's a lot to be said for a movie that has its director up in arms claiming that he hates his own creation before it has even been released, and while it's hard to escape the film-makers statements whilst watching, you can't help but feel sympathetic for such a person. Babylon A.D. is the perfect example of suit and tie butchery; an artistic, intelligent piece of work obviously dragged down in the cutting room into an incoherent, clunkering mix of the genuinely interesting and the downright mundane. Suffering from narrative that jumps about far too often to sustain a sense of linear storytelling and character, plus boasting action scenes which, to be fair, deliver lukewarm entertainment at best, this latest offering or butchered vision- from director Mathieu Kassovitz is flawed, but not to point of absolute disaster. Of course it's hard to determine whether the director's personal vision would have been any better, but there's no denying the moments here that do shine well above all the others.
In between the stunted narrative and storytelling lies an interesting, socially relevant and viscerally compelling vision of a post apocalyptic dystopian future riving with ugly survivalists out only or themselves. Taken from the perspective of all the other dystopian, science fiction action movies, Babylon A.D. hardly does anything of an innovative or groundbreaking nature, but its visuals and consistently moody tone resonates throughout the film, creating an intriguing palette of colours to watch. Nevertheless, although Kassovitz doesn't necessarily cover any new ground, he does what is expected in this area with enough of a vision, and a sense of coherency that far outshines the rest of the feature. To be sure it's no Blade Runner in terms of innovation, but the style that is present here is highly reminiscent of Ridley Scott's masterpiece, only without the flying cars and far advanced technology; it's a dark, moody and unpleasant world, stricken by poverty and the backlash of nuclear war, and Kazzovitz makes sure to always make it interesting with the help of Thierry Arbogast's poignant photography punctuated with Atli Örvarsson's tragically sombre score.
Of course a film that is all about its sets and special effects is hardly a movie at all, so it's relieving that despite certain missteps, there are also many elements that further these themes and tones outside of the aesthetics. Lead character Toorop (Vin Diesel) is a perfect example of how such an environment can completely embody a character, and Diesel is just the man to do it. Hard headed, intolerant, brash, and street wise, Toorop is a grizzled mercenary, sent on a mission to escort a girl named Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) to New York, all details naturally withheld. Aurora is almost the antithesis of Toorop; warm, gentle and sheltered from the ugly world outside her convent, she off-balances the soldier well enough to stop the feature from getting too wooden. Both actors manage to strike up enough conviction in their roles to sustain compelling characterisation when it is allowed, and as a result, an engaging character story within this incredibly distant world is realised.
Unfortunately however such elements quickly go to waste after the first act when those in charge of cutting and pasting start to go wild. Being thrown around like ragdolls, these characters soon find themselves in all sorts of elaborate action scenes; some which work nicely enough, but most of which feel contrived to point of absolute absurdity. A key example of this lies in the middle of the feature where we go from a submarine, to a snowmobile chase with Cylon-look-a-like jets, to a hotel room in the space of ten minutes. Jarring would be an understatement. Yet this example is just one of very many that only seems to increase exponentially as the movie wears onto its anti-climactic, ridiculous ending. There's no pacing, no momentum and more importantly, no consistency of tone, characterisation or narrative; it's just a bumbling mess of drama-action-drama-action that reeks of terrible, misinformed editing processed by a studio unconvinced of the original cut's ability to pull in the cash.
Conclusively it would seem that director Mathieu Kassovitz made the right, artistically driven decision in detaching himself from the final cut of what was no doubt a proud vision of his. Yet blessed with the director's ability to bring out some fitting performances and craft a world that jumps out of the screen, provoking thought about civilisation and humanity, key elements of his vision still remain under the ruins created by the lazy editing. One can only hope that Kassovitz gets to take part in the latest trend and have his own cut released on DVD in the future, but for now I cannot recommend paying money to see this. Filled with some fresh, well conceived ideas and themes, all focusing around compelling characters, Babylon A.D. is a mixed bag of great moments with terrible ones (and quite possibly the worst ending of 2008), all sequenced together incoherently and without any feel for pacing or focused structure. It's a cinematic Frankenstein; powerful and with meaning at its core but put together with little care for its inherent substance within. There's value here, but you'll have to look deep and would be best leaving ten minutes early.
In between the stunted narrative and storytelling lies an interesting, socially relevant and viscerally compelling vision of a post apocalyptic dystopian future riving with ugly survivalists out only or themselves. Taken from the perspective of all the other dystopian, science fiction action movies, Babylon A.D. hardly does anything of an innovative or groundbreaking nature, but its visuals and consistently moody tone resonates throughout the film, creating an intriguing palette of colours to watch. Nevertheless, although Kassovitz doesn't necessarily cover any new ground, he does what is expected in this area with enough of a vision, and a sense of coherency that far outshines the rest of the feature. To be sure it's no Blade Runner in terms of innovation, but the style that is present here is highly reminiscent of Ridley Scott's masterpiece, only without the flying cars and far advanced technology; it's a dark, moody and unpleasant world, stricken by poverty and the backlash of nuclear war, and Kazzovitz makes sure to always make it interesting with the help of Thierry Arbogast's poignant photography punctuated with Atli Örvarsson's tragically sombre score.
Of course a film that is all about its sets and special effects is hardly a movie at all, so it's relieving that despite certain missteps, there are also many elements that further these themes and tones outside of the aesthetics. Lead character Toorop (Vin Diesel) is a perfect example of how such an environment can completely embody a character, and Diesel is just the man to do it. Hard headed, intolerant, brash, and street wise, Toorop is a grizzled mercenary, sent on a mission to escort a girl named Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) to New York, all details naturally withheld. Aurora is almost the antithesis of Toorop; warm, gentle and sheltered from the ugly world outside her convent, she off-balances the soldier well enough to stop the feature from getting too wooden. Both actors manage to strike up enough conviction in their roles to sustain compelling characterisation when it is allowed, and as a result, an engaging character story within this incredibly distant world is realised.
Unfortunately however such elements quickly go to waste after the first act when those in charge of cutting and pasting start to go wild. Being thrown around like ragdolls, these characters soon find themselves in all sorts of elaborate action scenes; some which work nicely enough, but most of which feel contrived to point of absolute absurdity. A key example of this lies in the middle of the feature where we go from a submarine, to a snowmobile chase with Cylon-look-a-like jets, to a hotel room in the space of ten minutes. Jarring would be an understatement. Yet this example is just one of very many that only seems to increase exponentially as the movie wears onto its anti-climactic, ridiculous ending. There's no pacing, no momentum and more importantly, no consistency of tone, characterisation or narrative; it's just a bumbling mess of drama-action-drama-action that reeks of terrible, misinformed editing processed by a studio unconvinced of the original cut's ability to pull in the cash.
Conclusively it would seem that director Mathieu Kassovitz made the right, artistically driven decision in detaching himself from the final cut of what was no doubt a proud vision of his. Yet blessed with the director's ability to bring out some fitting performances and craft a world that jumps out of the screen, provoking thought about civilisation and humanity, key elements of his vision still remain under the ruins created by the lazy editing. One can only hope that Kassovitz gets to take part in the latest trend and have his own cut released on DVD in the future, but for now I cannot recommend paying money to see this. Filled with some fresh, well conceived ideas and themes, all focusing around compelling characters, Babylon A.D. is a mixed bag of great moments with terrible ones (and quite possibly the worst ending of 2008), all sequenced together incoherently and without any feel for pacing or focused structure. It's a cinematic Frankenstein; powerful and with meaning at its core but put together with little care for its inherent substance within. There's value here, but you'll have to look deep and would be best leaving ten minutes early.
- Written by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)