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Mathieu Kassovitz (Assassin(s), Babylon A.D., Cauchemar blanc, The Crimson Rivers, Fierrot le pou, Gothika, L'Ordre et la morale, Métisse)
Producers:
Alain Goldman, Mathieu Kassovitz and Eiffel Mattsson
Screenplay:
Mathieu Kassovitz and Joseph Simas (based on the book Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec)
Music:
Atli Örvarsson
Cast :
Toorop: Vin Diesel
Sister Rebeka: Michelle Yeoh
Aurora: Mélanie Thierry
Gorsky: Gérard Depardieu
High Priestess: Charlotte Rampling
Finn: Mark Strong
Darquandier: Lambert Wilson
Killa: Jérôme Le Banner
Dr Newton: Joel Kirby
Jamal: Souleymane Dicko
Babylon A.D.
must've had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cinema release because I don't recall it being around during its late August 2008 release,
and despite its $60m budget it only recouped a third of it by the time it ended its US cinema run in mid-November. Still, this
could be the kind of film that breaks even on home viewing if enough people go for it.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Toorop (Vin Diesel, the modern day Arnie with a deep accent) has to smuggle a
young woman, Aurora (Mélanie Thierry), from a convent in Kirghizstan into the USA in the next few days over the course of a few days, having been hired
by hired by a weird baddie called Gorsky (Gérard Depardieu hamming it up a bit for the fairly brief time he's onscreen),
while Michelle Yeoh tags along for the ride as her companion, Sister Rebeka, who doesn't want to leave her side. Given
that she is Michelle Yeoh you know she's going to do some martial arts at some point, but even in a film lasting just over 90
minutes she only gets two goes to do a few high-kick moves to get out of a fight. Also in the cast is Charlotte Rampling
as the High Priestess of the Noelite Church, the religion to which Sister Rebeka and Aurora belong, although her role is just
plain weird.
Quite why Aurora is significant is something that you'll discover during the course of the film, unless you've read the book
upon which it is based, Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec, which I hadn't.
This is a futuristic-style plot we've seen dozens of times in the past, the only difference being the reason for the journey but
there's been countless films set in the future that have required a long journey of great importance by the lead characters.
Overall, Babylon A.D. has a distinctive charm but it's not a fantastic film and comes across as rather disjointed
and ends up not making whole lot of sense. When they eventually get to New York, the director tries to make the city look
a vision from Blade Runner with similar background music, but nothing can match the visuals in that film, nor the audio.
Note that the film itself is a 12-cert but it's the extras which bring it up to the 15-cert. Checking the BBFC website, there
is an entry for this extended version which has a '15' logo next to it, but the Extended Classification Information (which
contains spoilers) talks only about the 12-cert
(See BBFC link here)
Of the versions in which this is released, I'm not sure what the point of the 1-disc version is, as Fox tend to do these from time to time, since for a couple of quid
extra you can get the 2-disc version which not only has more extras but also has an extended version that runs 10 minutes longer,
which also goes for the Blu-ray.
Oddly, another trend is to have the 2-disc version being accompanied by a "bonus digital copy", which didn't come with my
review disc but tends to be an MP4 version you can play on a portable device like a Sony PSP or an Ipod, if that's your bag.
Personally, I wouldn't be too fussed about such a thing since it's a big action film and you won't get any of the impact on
a small screen but I can only assume it's Fox thinking they're doing their bit to combat piracy for those who might want such a
format. Whether this becomes a regular thing in future will depend on the take-up for it, I guess.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio, the image is crystal clear and works brilliantly for both explosive scenes
with sharpness and colour, viewed upscaled to a 37" plasma screen via an Xbox 360, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound excels
for explosions and gunshots, although while there are no problems with it, the audio isn't kick-ass the whole time.
Although I got to see the extended version, I only received disc 1 of the 2-disc set and the
extras begin with Babylon Babies (11:04), in which author of the original novel, Maurice G. Dantec talks
about the characters, his original book and how they brought it to the screen, mostly in his native tongue with English subtitles,
although he changes back and forth as it goes on. English subtitles are an option when he's speaking English, although the rest
of the time they're burned into the print. There's also stills from the production shown here as well as a bit of
behind-the-scenes footage. As with all other featurettes, the film clips used now and again are in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen.
Arctic Escape (11:40) is about how a segment involving snow mobiles comes into being with the help of a team called
the Slednecks who were instrumental when it came to figuring out the cool moves during a chase scene. Stunt Co-ordinator Bob
Brown talks us through it, as he also does in an indoor fight scene - and one featuring Michelle Yeoh - in Fit for the
Screen (7:03).
Hummers in Flight (7:59) looks at another stunt scene, this time involving Humvees in a chase scene where they only had
10 days to film something that normally takes 30, and there's also a Deleted Scene (2:59) involving these vehicles.
Prequel to Babylon A.D.: Genesis of Aurora (5:01) is a brief animation that relates to the film but to go into detail
would be a spoiler. Finally, there's a Stills Gallery covering several key scenes in the movie.
There are also some trailers not relating to this film prior to the main menu. I didn't watch all but one of them but DVD
companies should really understand that the place for trailers is in the EXTRAS menu... Oh, and there's also that FACT advert
about "You wouldn't steal a car..." so why do people pirate DVDs? Those always end up on legit DVDs but never the knock-off
Nigel ones(!)
The menu features a short piece of music from the film against a static background, there are subtitles in English
only and the disc contains 20 chapters which is fine for a film that only runs 97 minutes in total.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
2-disc DVD: 
Babylon A.D.
must've had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cinema release because I don't recall it being around during its late August 2008 release,
and despite its $60m budget it only recouped a third of it by the time it ended its US cinema run in mid-November. Still, this
could be the kind of film that breaks even on home viewing if enough people go for it.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio, the image is crystal clear and works brilliantly for both explosive scenes
with sharpness and colour, viewed upscaled to a 37" plasma screen via an Xbox 360, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound excels
for explosions and gunshots, although while there are no problems with it, the audio isn't kick-ass the whole time.
