Have a product you would
like reviewed on this site? Mail to:
The Reviews Page
552 Prince Charles
Dorval, QC H9P 1Z3

Action - Babylon A.D. - Vin Diesel

CLICK PIC FOR AMAZON PAGE
Click Pic for Amazon page

Babylon A.D.
Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Melanie Thierry
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
Fox Home Entertainment 2009
90 minutes or 101 minutes uncut version

Babylon A.D. did not do well with the critics or its director when it came out on the big screen but this action movie DVD kicks some serious ass. This is a Vin Diesel vehicle with lots and lots and lots of action framed by an interesting story. The special effects are cool and the CGI is decent. The acting is also generally good. If you are looking for an action movie that entertains and does not insult your intelligence with a totally lame story Babylon A.D. will do the job.

Perhaps those who saw Babylon A.D. on the big screen were hoping for the speculative apocalyptic fiction this movie is based on (Babylon Babies by French writer Maurice G. Dantec who appears in one of the special features on the DVD). What this movie turned out to be is an action heavy dystopia story.

Vin Diesel plays your basic Vin Diesel character, this time named Toorop. Toorop is hired to smuggle a young woman named Aurora, and her guardian (Michelle Yeoh) into New York. This takes place in a world that is pretty much like Iraq or Afghanistan 24/7. Aurora is a special young woman with unusual talents and a peacenick.

Diesel and Yeoh spend a lot of Babylon A.D. kicking ass while Aurora spends her time telling them to stop kicking ass.

Charlotte Rampling is atrocious as the leader of the Noelites. Even the Taz does not chew up as much scenery.

There is a hell of a twist near the end.

Perhaps Babylon A.D. fails to deliver on the promise of the Maurice G. Dantec novel it is based on. That should not surprise anybody on this planet. Novel aside, this is a fun to watch action movie that does not have any slow bits.

 

DVD:

The Babylon A.D. dual single- disc includes both the theatrical and unrated cut, is presented in widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio) and features English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English, Spanish and French subtitles. Bonus Features include:

· Babylon Babies –How author Maurice G. Dantec’s novel went from page to screen

· Arctic Escape – An inside look at the snow mobile chase

· An inside look at Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia

 

Special Edition DVD With Digital Copy:

The Babylon A.D. Special Edition two-disc unrated cut is presented in widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio) and features English 5.1 Dolby Digital and French Dolby Surround with English, Spanish and French subtitles. The Special Edition DVD also features Digital Copy. Bonus Features include the DVD stuff plus

 

o Fit For The Screen – A featurette about the martial arts and stunts of the film

o Flight of the Hummers – The exciting Humvee chase is dissected

o Genesis of Aurora – A graphic novel prequel to Babylon A.D.

o Still gallery

Blu-ray Disc With Digital Copy:

The Babylon A.D. BD release will be authored in BD on a dual-layer 50 GB disc with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio plus French 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, Spanish, French, Cantonese, Korean and Mandarin subtitles. Bonus Features include all of the featurettes included on the standard definition two-disc DVD as well as:

 

· Interactive “Scene Evolution” in Bonus VIEW Mode:

o Exterior Housing Project

o Toorop’s Apartment (With Explosion)

o Gorsky’s Armored Convoy

o Gaz Limo on Magnet

o The Convent

o The Marketplace

o Trans-Siberian Train Interior

o Night Club: The Hackers

o Night Club: Fight Scene

o Night Club: Cage Fight

o The Stampede to the Russian Sub

o Russian Sub Interior

o Snowmobile Chase

o Snowmobile Explosion: Toorop is Hit

o Harlem Square Shootout

o Darquandier’s Laboratory

o Darquandier’s Laboratory: Memory Machine