It’s safe to say that Babylon A.D. is no Blade Runner. It falls apart toward the end, during the stretch set in New York that includes an ill-advised scene of intimacy between Toorop and Aurora, and it adds lots of confusing explanations by superfluous characters. But for much of its running time, it’s at least diverting. Yeoh is a fabulous screen presence even in generic Hollywood junk (see the summer’s earlier Mummy sequel), and the film’s visuals includes a few memorable images.
Babylon A.D. probably won’t do much for Vin Diesel’s action-movie career, but its failure may be for the best if it pushes the actor into roles that require him to do more than mumble one-liners and shoot bad guys. Watching Babylon A.D., it’s hard to see why anyone ever thought he was a convincing action hero to begin with.
Questions? Comments? Contact the writer at crosswalkchristian@earthlink.net.
CAUTIONS:
- Drugs/Alcohol: A glass of wine with dinner; smoking; characters share a flask.
- Violence: An empty gun is aimed at a man, and the trigger is pulled; animals are prepared for sale, then cut up and cooked; massacre footage on a TV news channel; an animal hangs from a rope; a bombing kills many people; dead polar bears are shown; missiles fired from airplanes; several killings during a scene of mayhem; a man is shot at point-blank range; grenades destroy cars.
- Language/Profanity: Lord’s name taken in vain; some foul language; cage fighting to the death; people attempting to board a boat are shot and/or fall into cold water.
- Sex/Nudity: A man showers and his upper back, with a wound, is shown; Aurora approaches a towel-clad Toorop and touches him, but they are interrupted before going much further.
- Religion: A man prays before eating; allusions to a miracle in the making; nativity-scene imagery; a “new religion” is said to have potential to become the dominant religion on earth; one character has the ability to foresee the future; among many commercial signs and projected messages is one that reads “Repent. Be Forgiven”; Aurora’s secret has parallels to the story of Jesus.
