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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by James Rocchi

BABYLON A.D. takes place in a near-future landscape in which world-weary mercenary Toorop (Vin Diesel) is hired to escort a young woman from a Mongolian monastery to New York. The young woman, Aurora (Melanie Thierry), is protected by Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh). The trio sets out on their perilous journey -- as they approach New York, the sinister plans of the group behind the trip become increasingly clear.

Is It Any Good?

1

Babylon A.D. has already been disavowed by director Mathieu Kassovitz, and it wasn't screened for critics in advance of its theatrical opening. These two facts alone should tell you a lot about how good it is in the final analysis. Diesel's brooding, bulky hero is a run-down recycling of characters he's played in other, better films like The Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black; he doesn't help the film any with his performance, stumbling through the film like a man with a hangover.

Babylon A.D. may have been intended as a rock-'em, sock-'em action film that examines important social and ethical issues, but the finished film plays like a series of bland, blurry action sequences with occasional breaks for pretentious posturing between explosions. It's dark, dreary, and dull, and all the special effects and stunt sequences thrown at the screen can't make up for the fact that it's a film with almost nothing to really say between the booms and bursts of bombs and gunfire.

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