Review of Babylon A.D. (2008) by Jess K — 22 Nov 2009

At the risk of sullying my film snob cred, I root for Vin Diesel, he's limited but likable. Like its star, Babylon A.D. begins with a lot of promise and potential. There is a mystery and a world surrounding the film's plot that begs to be explored and expanded.

It's clear that reckoning is coming that will shake the film's entire base situation. Yet that moment never comes. The set pieces feel boring, underdone, and routine. Several scenes have the feeling of "now it's time for the snowmobile chase," "this is the emotional death," "here's the inevitable romance" as though the filmmaker was rushing through the film's bucket list days before deadline.

It moves like a lobotomized Children of Men that spent its entire effects budget on just enough material to fit into a trailer without considering the demands of its story, or even an ending. In the hands of a more competent director (or at least one who could make a decent rip of Ridley Scott or Steven Spielberg) perhaps the film would have lived up to its promise.

In my opinion, the only thing worse that a woefully bad movie, is a woefully bad movie with a lot of potential. My hope is that Diesel can change his path before suffering a similar fade.