Babylon AD

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Movie
German title Babylon AD
Original title Babylon AD
Country of production France
original language English
Publishing year 2008
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
JMK 14
Rod
Director Mathieu Kassovitz
script Mathieu Kassovitz,
Éric Besnard ,
Joseph Simas
production Mathieu Kassovitz,
Alain Goldman
music Atli Örvarsson
camera Thierry Arbogast
cut Benjamin Weill
occupation
synchronization

Babylon AD is a French feature film by Mathieu Kassovitz from the year 2008 . The film is based on the novel Babylon Babies by the French writer Maurice G. Dantec . Vin Diesel , Michelle Yeoh and Mélanie Thierry can be seen in the leading roles . The film opened in German cinemas on September 11, 2008.

action

Eastern Europe in a dystopian "near future" (according to the Internet Movie Database , the action is likely to be seen in the late 2020s or early 2030s): The mercenary Toorop receives an order from Mafia boss Gorsky to smuggle a young woman to New York . The war-weary lone fighter is rewarded with half a million US dollars, a new identity for the UN zone and thus a calmer life.

From the monastery of the globally influential sect of the Noelites, he drives with the nun Rebecca and her protégé Aurora to a train station for their onward journey. From here on, Aurora gives an idea of ​​her abilities. She knows that the caged predators waiting to be removed are just clones, and she escapes the queue in front of the station concourse in time for an explosion. On the train she speaks to strangers in their language - Rebecca later tells Toorop that Aurora has spoken 19 languages ​​fluently since she was two without having learned them. At the end of the train journey, Toorop seeks out a smuggler friend who is supposed to enable them to cross the Bering Strait . Several mercenaries ambush her there and they say they want to bring Aurora to her father. Although Aurora would ultimately have followed voluntarily, Toorop holds her back by force.

The next day, a large crowd of refugees went to a waiting submarine to be brought across the Bering Strait. When too many refugees want to push into the vehicle, the captain gives the order to descend. Aurora goes into a frenzy because of those who remain behind, who drown in the icy water, briefly seizes the submarine and initiates the surface process with her own hands. Even Rebecca cannot explain the abilities of her protégé. After the crossing, the group traverses Alaska on two snowmobiles and approaches the 15-mile kill zone. This is guarded by armed drones that kill every living being without warning. The refugees cross the area with difficulty. In the evening, Aurora treats the wounded Toorop and is amused at how an otherwise self-confident and powerful mercenary can whine "like a baby" when sewing a wound. Amid the laughter, she suddenly says that the three of them will all die in New York. Later in the evening, she asks Toorop about the conversation she overheard on the submarine, after which he would kill and burn her should she carry a virus and thus turn out to be a living bomb that is to be smuggled into the American area .

A day later the group arrived in civilization. Toorop injects his new identity into his bloodstream in the bathroom of a hotel, without knowing that it also acts as a tracking device. When Aurora shows up, the two almost kiss, but stop when Rebecca walks in the door. After arriving in New York, the three refugees are visited by a doctor from the sect, who examined Aurora three months earlier in the monastery and is now also carrying out a test on her. After his departure, Aurora announces that despite her virginity , she is pregnant with twins. Rebecca can confirm that there was no man in Aurora's life.

When supporters of the Noelites and mercenaries von Gorsky arrive in front of the hotel, the handover of Aurora to the sect begins. She lets it happen, but when Toorop refuses to hand it over at the last moment, she thanks him for it. In the subsequent exchange of fire, Rebecca is killed. When a missile programmed to Toorops new identity is fired, Aurora shoots him with the words: "I want you to live!" The missile now misses her dead target and explodes on a kind of protective shield Aurora.

When Toorop wakes up, many of his body parts have been replaced by mechanical ones. He was raised from the dead by a man who describes himself as the father of Aurora and explains how Toorop came into being. While machines and artificial intelligence have developed rapidly over the past few decades, human development has stopped. In cooperation with the Noelites, he created a person who had the knowledge of humanity and other abilities from birth. That person is Aurora. The twins growing in it, on the other hand, are the next generation of this development, which must be protected from the media exploitation of the Noelites. For the influential sect, Aurora is a kind of messiah with whose help their religion and thus their power can expand further. The high priestess of the sect, who also sees herself as Aurora's mother, is doing everything possible to get her under her control. Gorsky is killed by her with a nuclear missile and Aurora's "father" is shot by her after he answers her question whether he would be ready to die for his creation.

Toorop finds Aurora in his old home in the middle of the woods. Shortly thereafter, she falls into a coma and only wakes up in a safe place shortly before the twins are born. As programmed in her genes, she dies at birth - her task is thus fulfilled. Before that, she chose Toorop as the father of the children.

roll

Toorop

Hugo Cornelius Toorop is an experienced mercenary with a gloomy worldview. Regardless of his undoubtedly turbulent past, he sticks to his own (survival) code, which he breaks down in the course of the plot by taking sides with and protecting Aurora. In order to get back to the USA and live undisturbed by the judiciary (whose wanted lists he is on), he makes a deal with Gorsky. He has extensive knowledge of weapons and strategic tactics and does not lose track of things even in difficult situations. He always keeps an eye on his surroundings, plans in advance and tries e.g. B. to avoid unnecessary attention by "dressing up" Aurora. In order to be able to fulfill his mission, he willingly accepts the death of others and acts against his opponents with great brutality. This attitude is the exact opposite of that of Aurora, who under no circumstances wants others to be harmed because of her. In the course of the plot he develops romantic feelings for Aurora and for her well-being renounces the longed-for new beginning, which Gorsky assured him when the assignment was fulfilled. After being resuscitated by Dr. Darquandier tells him about Aurora's story. After learning from Darquandier that Aurora is alive and having everything planned, Toorop decides to look for Aurora and continue to take care of her protection.

Sister rebecca

She is initially Aurora's only caregiver for whom she has maternal feelings. Protecting auroras and their wellbeing is a priority for them. Since she was worried about Aurora when she was still a baby, she is aware of the character traits and her “special characteristics” and therefore shows no astonishment at her abilities. With her connection to Aurora, she succeeds several times in calming them down in unfamiliar stressful situations. Rebecca is a devout and faithful follower of the Noelites. Even the impending loss of Aurora when she was handed over in New York (as ordered by the sect leadership) does not let her deviate from her loyalty. Nevertheless, at the end of the plot she turns against the sect leadership and helps Aurora to escape, but in the course of which she dies herself. Paradoxically, as a sister, she has good hand-to-hand combat skills that are useful in defending Aurora. She gives a hint of this in a dialogue with Toorop at the beginning of the film: "Just because we are peaceful does not mean that we are weak."

Aurora

Is an inconspicuous and calm woman who is led by Dr. Darquandier was artificially created by order of the Noelites. In her memory, "the entire knowledge of humanity" is implanted. As a fetus, Aurora learned to “process information like a computer”. In addition, there are signs of empathic ("I can feel them drowning! I can feel them die!"), Precognitive ("We will all die in New York.", "I want you to live!" ), telepathic ("You are a bad man.") and psychokinetic skills. With the exception of her name explanation, she does not reveal any information about herself during the film. In addition to the question of her motives, it remains unclear how much she knows about the circumstances of their creation and their abilities. In contrast to Toorop, she takes a more passive stance, but becomes active when she sees herself able to help other people.

Like Rebecca, she is a devout Noelite, but apparently gives up her faith shortly before she is handed over in New York. Although she reciprocates Toorop's feelings, she is still closed to him. Knowing that Darquandier will later resuscitate him, she shoots Toorop after the unsuccessful handover and prevents him from being hit by a homing missile. Although Rebecca portrays a parenting role to Aurora, Aurora does nothing to prevent her death. Despite the numerous security forces and their strong armament, the unarmed Aurora managed to escape. At the end of the storyline, she entrusts Toorop with her twins when she gives birth and dies.

Dr. Darquandier

Sees himself as the father of Aurora because it was he who created her. Since his opponents consider him dead after an unsuccessful assassination attempt, he acts from behind the scenes so as not to be in danger again. In his research, he does not dwell on existing social values ​​and is convinced that it is the right thing to artificially accelerate the human evolutionary process. In creating Aurora, however, he overlooks (or consciously accepts) that he is unnecessarily shortening her life and thus robbing her of any opportunity to see her children grow up. Moreover, because of their uniqueness, it isolates them from the rest of humanity.

Locations

According to the Internet Movie Database, the thirteen locations are said to have been:

background

Production history

The shooting was accompanied by numerous problems. In particular, bad weather made the project difficult and led to considerable delays and budget overruns. Rumors of arguments between lead actor Vin Diesel and director Kassovitz were officially denied. Reports of constant interventions by the studio during filming and severe cuts in post-production come from the director himself, who in the week before the US release clearly distanced himself from the US version of the film, which was heavily modified by the studio.

Frames

The US version cut by the studio is 90 minutes long, while the version for the European market is 101 minutes long. Rumors of a total of 70 more film minutes were officially denied. In the US version, all dialogues critical of religion and belief are missing, and the film also has a happy ending. In the shorter version, edited by Fox, the film ends with Toorop living with the two twins in a new home in the middle of paradisiacal forests.

synchronization

The German synchronization was at Berliner Synchron , after a dialogue book and the dialogue director of Björn Schalla .

role actor Voice actor
Toorop Vin Diesel Martin Keßler
Sister rebecca Michelle Yeoh Arianne Borbach
Aurora Mélanie Thierry Loretta star
High priestess Charlotte Rampling Krista Posch
Gorsky Gérard Depardieu Oleg Schmidt
Darquandier Lambert Wilson Lutz Schnell
Finn the smuggler Mark Strong Oliver Siebeck
Dr. Newton Joel Kirby Udo Schenk

Reviews

On Rotten Tomatoes , the film received only 6% out of over 100 rated reviews with the conclusion: "A poorly constructed, disappointing science fiction film with a weak script and poor action sequences." At Metacritic , the film has a Metascore of 26 (from 100) from 15 reviews. In the Internet Movie Database , the film has a rating of 5.6 (out of 10) with 82,325 votes (as of November 4, 2016).

Gernot Gricksch wrote in TV Digital on September 5, 2008 that the French, of all people, are showing Hollywood how a good futuristic action spectacle is filmed. Despite the somewhat weak finale, the film has more power, brains and style than many of the films of the so-called dream factory that have been turned down according to the scheme. Actor Vin Diesel has never been as charismatic as here.

The film magazine Cinema wrote: “Vin Diesel is finally proving his acting class once again and distinguishes himself in the role of Toorop as the legitimate successor to ' Rattlesnake ' Kurt Russell . In addition, the film has the most bizarre cast of recent times: At Diesel's side, Gérard Depardieu act as the Russian mafioso, Bond girl Michelle Yeoh and the aristocratic British Charlotte Rampling as the embodiment of ultimate evil. Not to forget top model Mélanie Thierry in the role of the sensual and beautiful Aurora. ” Babylon AD is“ further proof of the international box office strength and attractiveness of the new French film ”. Cinema's conclusion was: "Laconically narrated action apocalypse with pitch-black humor and bald head Vin Diesel in top form."

According to the lexicon of international films , Babylon AD is a "[s] carefully developed action film [...] which straightforwardly fulfills the requirements of the genre, but suffers from an overly one-dimensional plot." Drawing of strong female characters and attractive supporting roles ”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Certificate of Release for Babylon AD . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, August 2008 (PDF; test number: 114 987 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Babylon AD . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ^ Locations in the Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ a b Masters of Scifi - Babylon AD Director Mathieu Kassovitz Describes a Disastrous Production ( Memento from August 26, 2008 in the web archive archive.today )
  5. ↑ Egos collide on sci-fi project ( Memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  6. ↑ Babylon AD - Save the planet ( Memento from July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  7. ↑ Babylon AD . movie-censorship.com. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
  8. ↑ a b Babylon AD In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous file , accessed on May 22, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Babylon AD at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
  10. ↑ Babylon AD at Metacritic (English)
  11. ↑ Babylon AD in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  12. ↑ film review on cinema.de
  13. ^ Babylon AD In: Lexicon of international film . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used