DVD Reviews

Babylon A.D. – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jan 5, 2009, 15:58 GMT

Vin Diesel muscles his way from Eastern Europe to New York City in this post-apocalyptic thriller. The actor plays a mercenary who must take a package west in the midst of a crumbling world, but the package is more than it appears. French director Mathieu Kassovitz (LA HAINE, GOTHIKA) helms this film based on the novel BABYLON BABIES by Maurice G. Dantec. ...more

Vin Diesel becomes the bionic Telly Savalas in this sci-fi claptrap that references both biblical events as well as the Wizard of Oz. It’s a pretty ordinary apocalyptic sci-fi actioner, but it’s not helped by some wooden (or is that tin?) deliveries by those involved.

In a dark future, mercenary Toorop (Vin Diesel) is hiding out in Russia since he’s wanted in the United States. He wants to return home but futuristic passports are impossible to forge so he’s stuck in the decaying European nation.

He’s contacted by an old acquaintance the mobster Gorsky (Gerard Depardieu) who wants him to transport a “package” to New York City and he has a legitimate passport to get him there. Toorop doesn’t exactly trust Gorsky, but the passport is too much for him to pass by.

He’s introduced to Aurora (Melanie Thierry), a naïve young girl, and Sister Rebecca (Michelle Yeoh, a nun from a secluded order, who are his “packages” to be shipped to New York. He soon discovers that he’s not the only one who wants the packages and he might not make it out of this mess alive.
Babylon A.D. is based on the book by French novelist Maurice Georges Dantec, but somewhere in the translation the title was changed from Babylon Babies to Babylon A.D. Director Mathieu Kassovitz had been working on the adaptation of the book for quite some time, but was obviously not happy with the results since he badmouthed the film in the press.

I’m not sure if this Raw and Uncut version is closer to what he was intending since he only appears on some behind-the-scenes footage and not in the special features. The film is a typical post-apocalyptic sci-fi romp and has a European feel to it. However, it really doesn’t do much to rise above middling.

Vin Diesel appears to be made out of oak since his performance could best be described as wooden. Depardieu is just around enough to be a cameo and his makeup makes him look like the straight-backed cousin of Quasimodo.

Melanie Thierry really didn’t impress me too much and when she and Diesel tried to spark up a romance it felt icky to me since she seemed so childlike. Michelle Yeoh does get to do a little kung fu but it’s too little to late.

The film really doesn’t answer too many questions. Such as what is this Noelite religion that “CEO” Charlotte Rampling leads? I think these unanswered questions have to do with a potential film series, yet the poor box office performance guarantees that we’ll not be seeing Babylon A.D. 2.

Babylon A.D. is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Disc one features and 11 minute interview with author of Babylon Babies, on which the movie is based, Maurice Dantec. The 11 minute ‘Arctic Escape” looks at the stunts and the 7 minute “Fit for the Screen” is about the action sequences. The 8-minute “Hummers in Flight” is about a Hummer chase sequence cut from the movie, that’s also on here as a 2-minute deleted sequence.

There’s also a 5 minute video comic that’s a prequel to the film, 3 minutes of commercials that are featured in the film, still galleries, and trailers for other Fox flicks (but not one for Babylon A.D.). Disc two is a digital copy of the film for your PC or portable device.

Babylon A.D. is middling sci-fi that really doesn’t do much to make it rise above the rest of the pack. It almost feels as if we’ve seen it all before since the plot elements have been covered in other films. Vin Diesel really does seem like he’s transforming into Telly Savalas in this film, maybe that was more supposed to be part of the magic but it is just is a dud.