by Thomas Ferguson

I tell ya, Hollywood sure has a way of painting the future to be dark,dangerous, and daunting. Unfortunately, the script to the new Vin Diesel actioner Babylon A.D. is just as dismal.

Toorop (Diesel) is a former bounty hunter turned mercenary hired to escort a mysterious young woman (Melanie Thierry) and her protector Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) from Russia to America. Along the way, Toorop discovers this is no ordinary girl. She has a bounty on her head and this means his life may also be in danger. A powerful and dangerous cult of genetic enthusiasts knows the girl’s body is the host  for an organism that if harvested, could produce genetically modified humans.

Did that make any sense to you? Well, neither did this movie for me. It started well, but became more confusing and uninterested with every passing frame. One word comes to mind while describing this movie. That  word is “over”, as in... overacted,overly complicated, and over-the-top.

With a running time of only ninety minutes, I knew I’d be in and out with a minimum of fuss and muss. That would have been the case if the script itself didn’t drag and drag and drag. Slowly dragging my interest down with it.

If there was one saving grace it would have to be Yeoh who can do no wrong in my opinion. Well, I take that back, she did agree to co-star in this movie. She is my favorite Asian actress nonetheless and her abilities shined through this bleak celluloid mess.

As for Diesel...what is going on with him? He hasn’t been in a decent action movie in quite some time. I guess he “will work for a check” ,not thinking about his reputation as an action star.

Lucky for him, he has another Fast and the Furious movie coming out next year with the original cast along for the ride. The two minute preview for that film was more exciting than this entire movie.