Babylon AD is the latest action film from perennial tough guy Vin Diesel. With a horrible mix of bad acting, a nonsensical plot, cringe worthy dialogue and uninspired action this is truly the last nail in the coffin of Mr. Diesel’s career.
The film takes place in a distant future somewhat reminiscent of
Blade Runner. Toorop (Diesel) is a mercenary who’s been hired to deliver a "package" to New York city by a seedy mobster, played by an unrecognisable Gerard Depardieu. The package turns out to be a beautiful woman, Aurora (Mélanie Thierry), who seems to know more than she lets on. Several mysterious parties seem to want to capture Aurora and try to make their journey to N.Y. a difficult one. This part of the movie is the only one that makes any sense.
The film comes across as a poor-man’s version of the highly underrated
Children of Men. The movie steals the plot, look and feel but ignores everything that made that film great. Instead, we are treated to 90 minutes of Vin Diesel sleepwalking through absurd plot revelations that culminate in the dumbest ending I’ve seen in a long time.
I still don’t understood what people see in Vin Diesel. Besides
Pitch Black and maybe
The Fast and the Furious, he has made one horrible movie after another. With films like
Knockaround Guys, A Man Apart, XXX, The Pacifier and
The Chronicles of Riddick he can add
Babylon AD to the list of films he shouldn’t have made.
As an action film,
Babylon AD is a boring one. It has all the standards and clichés of the genre but they are created with such little flair you will find yourself yawning at even the most over the top scenes.
With a ridiculous plot and Vin Diesel vying for worst performance of the year you’ll be better off renting
Children of Men and seeing what a great sci-fi film actually looks like.
- Review by Sebastian CordobaYou can view the Babylon AD trailer here on TheVine.