Babylon A.D.
Action/Adventure
3/5

Plot
Vin Diesel’s character, Thoorop, is a mercenary who is asked by the Russian mob to protect and escort a girl named Aurora from her convent to New York. He must protect her from doctors who try to duplicate her intelligence and use her to repopulate for a better, smarter world. Her father is also requesting for her to study her genetics and intelligence he had given her when she was young.

Acting
I wouldn’t say the characters were realistic since it was futuristic. But I think the world could be like the movie in the future. Images from the movie were very captivating. The actions of the characters and the mission that Thoorop was on seemed unrealistic when they went to extremes to get somewhere. It was all for a movie so, it was hard to tell. Babylon A.D. was interesting nonetheless.

The main characters were not stereotyped but when they walked into the slums of Russia, terror zones, most of the people were either hisbanic or black and carried guns or worked in an underground fight club. Most of the main characters were ahead of the times and it didn’t look like they were being stereotyped. But knowing it was set in the future, I thought they would’ve changed the stereotypes a bit and make it fit the movie more since every other part was very different.

I think Aurora was a well-developed character because we find out about her past and what she wants for the future. But she’s in a struggle because she has not seen much of the world since living at the convent with her guardian nun. We see her life before, the conflicts in the middle and where she ended up being at the end. As for Vin Diesel’s character, it was as if he was thrown into the job as a mercenary but we do not see the full story nor do we find out about what he likes/doesn’t like about it. The characters who wanted to own Aurora weren’t well-developed either because we find out their motivation to capture her but we don’t know why it started.

Vin Diesel surprisingly took on an action film after many G-rated releases. He was believable and he was fit for the role. Melanie Thierry, who played Aurora, was very interesting. She played a character who was out of her element and was scared of everything around her. But at the same time she subconsciously knew the world around her. I thought she acted very well in this movie.

The cinematography in the film was what sold me on this movie. The slums of Russia were done to an extreme that was still believable. They were dark and run down but there would be sections out of nowhere that would be considered advancement from today. The mix of clean, new products and old, rusty railings made the scenes enjoyable. A lot of the music incorporated into these parts added to the effect. Mostly hip hop and rap music made this place seem even darker.
The scenes from NYC were amazingly well done – very futuristic and high-tech. Cars were amazingly fast and street signs were all digital. NYC was made into a very glamorous and new city. The contrast between the two were incredibly well done. I think this addition is foreshadowing what will occur in the future, where America will be advanced and other countries will always be behind. The cinematography and contrast stood out the most for me. Russia was a dark dreary place whereas New York was brightly lit.

I think some people would enjoy it for the odd story line and amazing cinematography. It is definitely a different type of movie than most that are put out there. At the same time, I don’t think they’d enjoy it because it is so different and out of the ordinary. They must walk into the theatre with an open mind and expect nothing. That’s what I did because I didn’t know what the movie was about or what to think of when I read the plot and it turned out to be very surprising.

Babylon A.D. seems to be one of those films made for a variety of people. Teenagers who are not very caught up in mindless movies may enjoy it. Adults ranging from any age I believe would enjoy it as well.

The film consisted of a lot of random action and fight scenes. But I thought it fit in because they didn’t know what to expect while they were on their adventure. Visuals were a huge sell on this movie and were a key feature. I think the weakness was the ending, which didn’t seem to fit into the story very much.