Take Me Back to “Babylon A.D.”

The Pitch: “The 5th Element” meets “Blade Runner” with a little bit of “Children of Men” in the mix.

The Overview: Set about 30 years in the future, Toorop [Vin Diesel] is a mercenary hired to deliver a woman [Melanie Thierry] from Russia to the US.   Since border crossings are no longer easy, and Toorop is considered a terrorist in the US, it ain’t gonna be easy.  Of course if it were easy, we wouldn’t have much of a movie, would we?

The Good: The sense of time and place is excellent… from poor battle-torn slums in Russia to a frozen sea crossing to the bright lights of NYC.  The unexpected stuff that seems expected to the characters in the movie — the helicopter/car ride, the submarine rising from the ice to transport refugees, paper maps that work like computers, etc.  Toorop keeping his word when he is first brought in.  That technology is everywhere.   The cast.  Diesel in a cage fight.  Melanie Thierry is believable as Aurora.

The Bad: The advertising for “Babylon A.D.” — and the fact that the director complained that he wasn’t able to achieve his full vision.  The ending is somewhat quick, but totally works with everything given.

The Ugly: The slums of Russia.  What happens to Gorsky.

The Summary: “Babylon A.D.” was so much better than I thought it would be.  I watched the unrated version [it and the theatrical version are on the dvd] and totally enjoyed it.  It’s not a great film, but one that I believe will grow better with each viewing.  I look forward to it joining my dvd library.