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Babylon A.D. is a 2008 science fiction thriller film based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. The film was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Vin Diesel, Mélanie Thierry, Michelle Yeoh and Lambert Wilson. It was released on August 29, 2008 in the United States.
PlotA few decades in the future, a mercenary named Toorop (Vin Diesel) accepts a contract from a Russian mobster, Gorsky, who instructs him to bring a young woman known only as Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) to New York City. In order to reach this goal, Gorsky gives Toorop a variety of weapons as well as a UN passport that has to be injected under the skin of the neck. Toorop, along with the girl and her guardian nun Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh), travel from the Noelite Convent in Mongolia across Russia to reach New York City in the United States.
The towns and cities of Russia have been turned into dangerous, overpopulated slums by war and terrorist activity, forcing Toorop, Aurora, and Rebeka to face dangers of the human element, all the while fleeing from an unknown group of mercenaries claiming to have been sent by Aurora's supposedly dead father. The stress of humanity's situation causes Aurora to act out in strange ways that neither Toorop nor Rebeka can explain. On one such occasion, Aurora seems for no reason to panic and run from a crowded train station, just before it explodes.
Later, they board a submarine that carries refugees to Canada. There are too many refugees to take at once, so the submarine is forced to leave some behind, even if it came to shooting them
. Aurora, infuriated by the loss of life, suddenly knows how to operate the 30-year-old submarine, without having ever learned about it.
Sister Rebeka explains to Toorop that Aurora could speak nineteen different languages by the age of two, and always seems to know things she has never learned. Three months before leaving with Toorop, she has begun acting in ways she never had before. This occurred after a visit by a Noelite doctor who had administered a pill to Aurora. The doctor tells her to go to New York City and arranges for Toorop to take them.
Once in Harlem in New York City, a news broadcast about the bombing of the convent causes the group to realize that there is more going on than they know. The Noelites have become a major new salvationist religion, which vast numbers of people cling to as the world spirals out of control. However, in private meetings, it is seen that their High Priestess is really just after power, and tries to use various invented miracles to get more people to believe in the truth of her religion. Gorsky, working for the Noelites, had planted a tracking device in Toorop's passport, and then bombed the convent when he knew they were in the United States. The doctor who earlier saw Aurora in the convent then appears to examine her again. When he leaves, Aurora reveals (without being told) that she is pregnant with twins, even though she is a virgin.
Looking outside, Toorop sees Gorsky's men as well as the Noelite group, heavily armed and waiting for them. The High Priestess then calls Toorop and asks him to bring Aurora outside. Just before they take her away, Toorop changes his mind and starts a firefight with the two groups with the ultimate goal of getting the two women to safety. However, because of the tracking devices, Gorsky's men can lock onto Toorop with tracking rockets. Rebeka is shot and killed defending Aurora, who in turn shoots Toorop saying the words, "I need you to live." By dying, the rocket goes off target and appears to hit Aurora instead. In fact, Aurora survives the rocket explosion by uncertain means (possibly telekinetic powers).
Toorop's body is revived by Dr. Arthur Darquandier, using advanced medical techniques, but Toorop's right arm and left leg are replaced with cybernetics to undo the damage of Toorop being dead for over two hours. Darquandier explains that when Aurora was a fetus, he enhanced her by using a supercomputer to 'implant' intelligence into her brain. It is also implied that the Noelite group had him create Aurora to become pregnant at a certain time in order to use her as a 'virgin birth' for their religion.
After she was born, the Noelites hired Gorsky to kill Darquandier, but Gorsky failed to kill Darquandier in an explosion. Darquandier remained 'dead' until he found his daughter in Russia with Toorop.
Doctor Darquandier uses a machine to go through Toorop's memory to find what Aurora said to him before Toorop 'died.' In Toorop's memory, Aurora tells Toorop to "go home." Toorop, as well as several of Darquandier's men, leave the facility. En route to Darquandier's lab, the High Priestess calls Gorsky, and it ends with Gorsky saying, "You'll need a nuke to kill me," at which point it is unclear as to whether or not a nuclear missile or a conventional missile hits Gorsky's location, but either way, he is killed in the blast. Darquandier is later killed by the High Priestess, but it is too late, since Toorop has already escaped. Toorop goes to his old house in the forest and finds Aurora, and takes her to a hospital where she dies after giving birth. Aurora was "designed to breed," not to live, so her death at childbirth was preprogrammed. Toorop is left to take care of her two children, who are noticeably of different races.
Cast- Vin Diesel as Toorop, a mercenary (full name is "Hugo Cornelius Toorop" in Babylon Babies novel)
- Mélanie Thierry as Aurora, a young woman who has been genetically engineered
- Michelle Yeoh as Sister Rebeka, a Mongolian Noelite nun and refugee
- Lambert Wilson as Dr. Arthur Darquandier, Aurora's father thought to be dead
- Mark Strong as Finn
- Gerard Depardieu as Gorsky, the man who hired Toorop to transport Aurora
- Charlotte Rampling as the Noelite High Priestess and CEO of the Noelite church who doesn't care or believe in religion, only power, fame, and fortune. Shes pays scientists to produce fake miracles in order to make hers the dominant religion, one of these miracles was for Aurora to be created as a vehicle for a virgin birth and the focus of the Noelite's 'miracle day'.
- David Gasman as Noelite Researcher
ProductionMathieu Kassovitz developed an English-language film adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's French novel Babylon Babies for five years; in June 2005, this project got financed from StudioCanal and Twentieth Century Fox. The adapted screenplay was written by Kassovitz and screenwriter Éric Besnard. Production was initially slated to begin in February 2006 in Canada and Eastern Europe. French actor Vincent Cassel was initially sought to be cast in the lead role. In February 2006, actor Vin Diesel entered negotiations to star in the film, titled Babylon A.D., dropping out of the lead role of Hitman in the process. Production of the futuristic thriller about genetic manipulation was slated to begin in June 2006. By February 2007, filming was slated to wrap in April to release Babylon A.D. in time for the coming Thanksgiving. In February, filming took place at Barrandov Studios. In March 2007, the filming crew, having shot in the Czech Republic, took a two-week hiatus to deal with uncooperative weather, such as the lack of snow, and problems with set construction. Crew members scouted Iceland for locations with snow to shoot six to eight days of footage, which was supposed to be done in February. Filming was also done with the leads Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, and Mélanie Thierry in Ostrava in March.
In April 2007, Babylon A.D. was reported to be over-budget and three weeks behind schedule. A lack of snow meant a skiing sequence to be shot in Eastern Europe had to be moved to Sweden. Later in the month, actor Lambert Wilson was cast into the film. Filming was completed in May 2007.
American artist Khem Caigan designed the sigil that appears as a tattoo on the right side of Toorop's neck - an emblem which originally appeared in the Schlangekraft Necronomicon in 1977.
Mathieu Kassovitz said that 20th Century Fox interfered throughout production, and he never had a chance to shoot a scene the way it was scripted, or the way he wanted it to be.
MusicThe music of Babylon A.D. is scored by composers Hans Zimmer and Atli Örvarsson. The musical alliance Achozen, represented by Shavo Odadjian and RZA performed the score for the film. Zimmer described the intended style: "Musically, our objective was to merge the sounds and energies of hip hop with classical music, seamlessly melting them into an unusual soundscape."
ReleaseBabylon A.D. was originally slated to be released in the United States on February 29, 2008, but its release was postponed to August 29, 2008.. As of January 31, 2009, the film grossed $22,532,572 in the United States and $49,055,674 in foreign countries totaling a worldwide gross of $71,588,246. The film was placed #2 behind Tropic Thunder with $9,484,267 in 3,390 theaters with a $2,798 average. The film has the eighth-highest 4-day Labor Day gross since 1982. Despite over $71 million being made from its box office gross, the film is considered a failure considering its production budget ($70 million).
ReceptionThe film was universally panned by critics. As of January 31, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes records a 7% rating ("rotten") based on 87 reviews, with the consensus being: "A poorly constructed, derivative sci-fi stinker with a weak script and poor action sequences." Metacritic compiles a 26% rating based on 15 reviews.
Blu-ray and DVDBabylon A.D. was released on January 6, 2009 on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. The single disc included no features but contained the theatrical version and (on the reverse side) the unrated version. The two disc unrated edition contained only the unrated version, which ran ten minutes longer than the theatrical cut. It also included four behind-the-scenes featurettes, a digital graphic novel prequel to the film, a still gallery, and a digital copy. The two disc blu-ray contained all of that plus an exclusive picture-in-picture feature.
The unrated version differed greatly from the theatrical version. The ending was cut short and did not show the full-length ending that was in the theatrical version, followed by more expletives. Other short scenes were put in, including one in the train where Toorop denies the existence of the Jesus Christ figure associated with the Christian religion.
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