I love Vin Diesel. I love his voice (I have this thing about voices – I was a music major in college), I love his acting, I love his face, and of course I love his body. (Come on! I have to be honest here.) I also love all his movies that I have seen. My favorites are “xXx” and “The Pacifier”.

But I wasn’t so thrilled with Babylon A.D..

I didn’t hate it, it is a great action flick; but it didn’t pull off what it was trying to be, which was a cerebral film.

The basic story is this:

The mercenary, Toorop (Vin Diesel) has been hired to smuggle a young woman named Aurora (Melanie Thierry) and her escort (Michelle Yeoh) from Russia to the US. Along the journey Aurora exhibits strange behavior and knowledge for things she should not be able to know. (Sister Rebeka, her escort reveals she could speak 19 languages at age 2!) Also there seem to be 2 distinct groups that want to get their hands on Aurora; a religious group seeking to legitimize themselves, and a group of rebels that claim to be led by her father who was dead but is now resurrected.

Throughout the movie you are left wondering whether Aurora is a religious miracle, the 2nd coming of Christ; or a genetic science experiment gone bad.

The problem is – the movie can’t seem to decide which one it wants you to believe either. You are still left wondering in the end; and not in the good, “wow, what a thought provoking movie” sort of way. No, it leaves you wondering more in the “huh? I don’t get it” way.

The upside to the DVD is that it does include both the Theatrical version that was shown at the theatre and the Director’s Uncut version. It is nice to be able to compare the two, because you do get a better feel for what the film should have been. I still think it would have been better if they could have done a combination of the two, especially the ending. The ending in the theatrical version was too highbrow, the ending in the uncut version was too glib. By combining the two it would have been “just right” as baby bear would say.

A really great scene in both versions is when the fugitives arrive in New York and Toorop is cleaning up in the bathroom. Aurora walks in. The only thing physical that happens is she touches his chest, but you can feel the attraction between the two of them. Whew! I swooned.

This is not a great movie, but it does have some good things in it. There is plenty of action, and there is plenty of Vin Diesel. Just don’t go looking for a good plot.

Babylon AD is rated PG-13 for violence (there is plenty of that, both guns and physical fighting), language (mostly by Vin Diesel), and some sexuality (only the scene I mentioned above and it is mild).