Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Depardieu

Veteran-turned-mercenary Toorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to America. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produc...( read more  read more... )e a genetically modified Messiah.

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33% liked it

136,256 ratings

Critics

7% liked it

97 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz

Release Date: August 20, 2008

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DVD Release Date: January 6, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (6,953)


  • November 10, 2009
    A mercenary in a distopian near future is employed to deliver a mysterious young woman to New York. Babylon AD plays out as a kind of Children Of Men meets Mad Max clone as Diesel does his usual laconic tough guy routine in the company of the impossibly cute Melanie Thierry and t...( read more)he ever watchably graceful Michelle Yeoh. In fact the slick visuals and entertaining action underpinned by an intriguingly enigmatic premise meant I was struggling to see why this film recieved such a savage pasting by the critics. And then it just...ends. No, ends is not the right word. It stops. No explanantions, no revelations. It just stops. Dead. In such a way that flew through the "Is that it?!" barrier, sailed over "WTF???" territory and lands firmly in "You've got to be f***ing kidding me." land. The fact that anyone involved in this project thought they could get away with releasing what amounts to nothing more than a sci-fi action clip show shows such an astonishing lack of respect for the intelligence of the viewing public it borders on contempt. Pure smoke and mirrors with absolutely NOTHING to back it up.
  • October 7, 2009
    ''Oh, you're a disgrace to the profession. You're not a mercenary, you're a fucking terrorist. You need two things to live in this business, your balls and your word. You don't have either! You know the difference between you and me, Karl? I still got both.''

    Veteran-turn...( read more)ed-mercenary Toorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to America. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a genetically modified Messiah.

    Vin Diesel: Toorop

    Babylon A.D., the story of Toorop, a veteran-turned-mercenary who takes the job of escorting a woman named Aurora from Central Asia to New York, stays fresh and witty in its first hour. What Toorop thinks is an ordinarily dangerous mission soon becomes much more when he discovers that his guest is carrying twin babies, thought to be the next Messiah figures. The movie begins frantically and the first hour is interesting, one can only help but admit there is little chance of a blockbuster after hearing zero publicity. All preconceived notions aside, there are actually quite a few great turns at its opening, including a border-crossing scene equaling intensity with any action film. Needless to say, after the 40 minutes my hopes were exceptional.

    The movie could have got one of two ways, really. Either it stayed true to its first hour is gritty, surprising evil marked by mysterious characters or get lazy and forever be lost to theatrical mediocrity. Unfortunately, it was the latter. What started out great in this production failure ultimately pandered its way to murky depths of boredom.

    The movie ended in the direct opposite way it began. We were met with intrigue and let out with unbelievability. We were ushered in with mystery and exited with apathy. Nothing kept me thinking, nothing kept me caring. The movie ended in a lump of lazy, backward thinking, as if we cared what happened to the babies? The last scene of the film was about as entertaining as watching mould grow on a piece of bread. Standing outside some house, Toorop held the hands of two very different looking children, in an act of true love, and a commitment to raise the children on his own. All this coming from a man whom we'd grown to love by seeing him throw innocent people from a vessel he was trying to board out of self preservation. Apparently Toorop turned nice in a flicker of a moment...who knew?

    If I could be blunter, I would. There were many, many things wrong with this film outside of the fact that it was created on the floor of a cutting room. The fight sequences had to be ambiguously edited in order to show the least amount of production error and lack of footage. The characters, although almost brimming with development possibility, were left to hang like a basketball mid-flight, as if we were watching a trilogy without the courtesy of seeing part one and having no hope for part three. It was nearly torturous. Babylon A.D. isn't worth the bother of a sequel, a prequel, or even the time wasted to make this intrepid affair.
  • September 22, 2009
    A spectacular and mind-blowing blast of great science fiction and hard-hitting action in this wickedly cool and awsome action-thriller. It's Blade Runner meets Children of men. It's solid, thrilling and cool. A stylish and well-crafted film thats terifficly entertaining from star...( read more)t to finish. An explosive, hard-core and adreniline-pumping edge of your seat thriller with great speacial effects and great action. An exhilerating and pulse-pounding adventure that kicks the pulse and excitement meter to a whole new level. Vin Diesel is teriffic, showing why he is a great action hero and compelling star. Director, Mathieu Kassovitz has crafted a great vision that deserves more credit than it has been given. This review is for the extended version, where as the original cut was too fast-paced and flat-out awful. This is a more exceptable version.
  • August 30, 2009
    Babylon AD is another action film from Vin Diesel. Vin is a hired transporter for a special person going to America from Russia. This is an alright film.
  • July 26, 2009
    What the ....?

    Did this budget run so seriously overbudget its ending was canned?

    Oh.

    Apparently it did.

    Because the ending just skips ahead from a firefight to suddenly a birthing scene, and then... years later...

    Up until that point I would have said it was a moderately en...( read more)joyable scifi action flick (if something of a Fifth Element clone). Then ... well. ... it all goes horribly wrong.

    Utter nonsense.
  • November 16, 2009
    Well...
    In the future I'm afraid we can make the holly maria by our own hands.
  • November 8, 2009
    I was at a loss while watching it and more confused when it ended. The story was not that tight, giving hints of what the characters could be but does not really tie them down. Some great actors in the cast but the movie does not do them justice.
  • November 7, 2009
    And Mathieu Kassovitz totally loses it! Yes, another good foreign director sucked by Hollywood's stereotypes and financial empire. Does it entertain? Oh yes, and it stops there. Vin Diesel will never be able to get out from the mindless realm he's stuck to.

    40/100
  • October 24, 2009
    Nonsense from beginning to end. A bleak depiction of the future and mankind on the whole - but the plot was utter bumpkum. If you asked me to write a synopsis of what the film was about, I honestly couldn't tell you...
  • October 23, 2009
    I really do not like sci-fi

Critic Reviews


September 2, 2008
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The only explicable thing about Babylon A.D. is that it was not screened in advance for critics. full review

August 29, 2008
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Seems simply like the aftermath of an artistic apocalypse. full review

View more Babylon A.D. reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • romanticlaserly
    June 13, 2009
    i think its the best action movie ,check it out !
  • marian4quatro
    March 8, 2009

    the best film 10/10
  • joycecummings16
    January 9, 2009
    i have never seen it but it has to been because it has vin diesle in it . peace out jesus loves you
  • rbevanx
    December 7, 2008
    One hell of a mess. I can't understand how this is made by the same guy who did La Haine
  • midnytangel1978
    August 26, 2008
    . looks like it's going to be cool, because Vin Diesel has played in movies like this b/4 so this cool movie...
  • stevewyllie1
    August 8, 2008
    i'm sort of glad they are not hyping this too much (yet) as this summer there has been quite a few films hyped heavily and they have actually been a big disappointment(e.g.HELLBOY2).

    VIN DIESEL returns to the big screen and hopefully the trailer is not the only good thing about this film!!!!
  • monkeywrench74
    April 25, 2008
    This looks like it could be pretty good. It will be under rated due to the bigger movies out this year.

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Babylon A.D. Trivia


  • Which frenchy directed Babylon A.D.?  Answer »
  • Who am I? Ghotika Babylon A.D. The Crimson Rivers Hate Amélie  Answer »
  • Who takes a job to escort Laura in Babylon A D ?  Answer »
  • The importance of Aurora in Babylon A D was that the twins she was carrying might be the next Messiahs ?  Answer »

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