September15

BMN: Babylon A.D.

“We see bad movies so that we can truly appreciate the good ones.”
– Someone who (obviously) thinks we’re doing ourselves a service.

Vin Diesel is cool. Really cool. He's got a deep voice, shaved head and, uhhh, well, yeah. He's cool. So cool, in fact, that he can really only do science fiction and action movies (unless you count "The Pacifier," which earned a LOT more than it should have at the box office). I will admit that I'm a fan of his Riddick character (see "Pitch Black" and "Chronicles of Riddick") and was initially excited when it was announced that he was returning to the sci-fi genre in "Babylon A.D."

That excitement quickly subsided when I saw the kinds of reviews that it was getting on RottenTomatoes. And when it landed around a 5-6% rotten, I knew that it wasn't going to be good.

I thought the movie started off pretty nicely for a sci-fi flick, but that was erased about 20 minutes into the film. A lot of reviews say that this movie is too similar to "Children of Men," but I think that it's too similar to a lot more than just that movie.

Things You Say, "I KNEW I Saw that Somewhere Before," After Seeing "Babylon A.D."
(warning: spoilers ahead, if you care)

1. Vin Diesel as an intellectual killing machine with a soft side -- "Pitch Black"
2. Vin Diesel doing a backflip on a snowmobile -- "XXX"
3. Smaller person overcoming odds and killing a huge beast of a man in a contest where bets are made -- "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"
4. People doing parkour during a chase scene -- "Casino Royale"
5. Transporting of a pregnant girl in post-apocalyptic world -- "Children of Men"
6. Horrible summer movie starring Michelle Yeoh (who must trying to supplant Wanda Sykes as harbinger of bad movies) -- "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer"

Okay, enough. You get the idea. Barf.

+ original post date: September 15, 2008 07:02 AM
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