Babylon WTF

Okay, if you're not a fan of genre films, you can skip this entry. This is the lost in translation story of Bablyon AD.

So this past Labor Day weekend, I went out to Palm Springs for some well deserved rest and relaxation. It was nice to just lounge out by the pool and relax. In between lounging at the pool, going to the local lounge bars and eating delicious food, I managed to check out Babylon AD.

Let's just say that at the end of the movie, I turned to my friend and asked him "What happened? I'm totally lost." He replied "I was depending on you to tell me what happened." Doing a little research I found some possible information on why this movie turned into such a horrible mess.

Apparently, the movie is based upon a French science fiction novel called Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. The director Mathieu Kassovitz (La Haine, Gothika) had apparently been working for 5 years to get the film made. Supposedly, the film was originally slated to begin in 2005 but due to various problems wound up not finishing filming until 2007 over-budget and behind schedule. According to reports the studio took the film away from the director and cut at least a good 15 minutes from the film. I'm assuming those 15 minutes were the scenes that actually contained the story.

The ironic thing is that Vin Diesel dropped out of Hitman to do this film. Hitman did about $40 million in the US. I suspect this film will do little more than half that amount.

In the end, we'll never know if the director's cut is any better, unless they decide to release the director's cut of the film. Maybe they're waiting for the special unrated Director's Cut version for the DVD release. You never know. Studios have been known to do wackier things.