Just saw Babylon A.D. It was a whole lot better than I feared; not quite as good as I hoped.
The big thing that tickled me I'm a sucker for the mythic narrative, and I'm a sucker for doubling. I know Diesel knows his tarot, and there was tarot imagery undergirding that movie hard core. One of the Major Arcana cards is Key 7, The Chariot. One of the many meanings of The Chariot; it's the vehicle or the urge that drives or pulls or yanks us out of the garden, out of childhood, out of a previous state of being. It's closely related to Key 16, The Tower. It shows a tower being blown apart by lightening. Again, the end of one order, the radical rupture with the previous world; the beginning of a new.
So what happens in this movie? Toorop is in his home, and he's ripped out of it rides off in a limo tank. Gets in a car that flies to a convent in Mongolia. An idyllic garden of a place. He becomes the charioteer at last at this point, driving the car. He takes two people from the garden into a world full of broken towers. They drive, they take the train, they take a sub, they walk, they fly, they run, they go into a world full of towers, some of which need a little blowing up. Toorop and Sister Rebecka and Aurora are all playing The Chariot, all ferrying their burdens from one world to another. Even Aurora's father is something of a Charioteer. Taking Toorop from death to life, from life to death, from death to life again.
And something switches. The penultimate act, we see Toorop's childhood home. Destroyed as if it was blown apart by metaphoric lightening. The girl, the ultimate charioteer, is waiting there. Once they are reunited, it's back to the road. Ultimately, the girl delivers her burden and dies. Toorop rebuilds his home and raises the little girl. There's a storm coming; there are towers that may come down, but it's a sweet place to stop.
I like Toorop. He's got style and he may be mercenary but he's got a line he won't cross. If it turns out the girl is a weapon, he'll kill her and burn her body to stop that from happening. That's a good line. I loved Sister Rebecka's character. There simply needs to be more nun- mercenary buddy movies where the nun kicks ass.
There were some weaknesses. I don't quite buy Toorop's conversion. He takes a shower, sees the girl, they almost kiss, and all of a sudden he's gone from mercenary who's basic limit is being used to destroy a city to literally willing to die to save this girl he barely knows. It felt like a bunch of character development got deleted. I don't get why evil mom stopped trying to get her daughter back just because a couple of cars got run off the road.
But I love the fact that, as in all Vin Diesel movies I really like, the women really call the shots. I love the fact he became the solar hero, going dark and light again and again, despite himself; I like the way that I see more in this the more I think about it. Two thumbs up. And I shall eagerly await the director's cut. Eagerly.
The big thing that tickled me I'm a sucker for the mythic narrative, and I'm a sucker for doubling. I know Diesel knows his tarot, and there was tarot imagery undergirding that movie hard core. One of the Major Arcana cards is Key 7, The Chariot. One of the many meanings of The Chariot; it's the vehicle or the urge that drives or pulls or yanks us out of the garden, out of childhood, out of a previous state of being. It's closely related to Key 16, The Tower. It shows a tower being blown apart by lightening. Again, the end of one order, the radical rupture with the previous world; the beginning of a new.
So what happens in this movie? Toorop is in his home, and he's ripped out of it rides off in a limo tank. Gets in a car that flies to a convent in Mongolia. An idyllic garden of a place. He becomes the charioteer at last at this point, driving the car. He takes two people from the garden into a world full of broken towers. They drive, they take the train, they take a sub, they walk, they fly, they run, they go into a world full of towers, some of which need a little blowing up. Toorop and Sister Rebecka and Aurora are all playing The Chariot, all ferrying their burdens from one world to another. Even Aurora's father is something of a Charioteer. Taking Toorop from death to life, from life to death, from death to life again.
And something switches. The penultimate act, we see Toorop's childhood home. Destroyed as if it was blown apart by metaphoric lightening. The girl, the ultimate charioteer, is waiting there. Once they are reunited, it's back to the road. Ultimately, the girl delivers her burden and dies. Toorop rebuilds his home and raises the little girl. There's a storm coming; there are towers that may come down, but it's a sweet place to stop.
I like Toorop. He's got style and he may be mercenary but he's got a line he won't cross. If it turns out the girl is a weapon, he'll kill her and burn her body to stop that from happening. That's a good line. I loved Sister Rebecka's character. There simply needs to be more nun- mercenary buddy movies where the nun kicks ass.
There were some weaknesses. I don't quite buy Toorop's conversion. He takes a shower, sees the girl, they almost kiss, and all of a sudden he's gone from mercenary who's basic limit is being used to destroy a city to literally willing to die to save this girl he barely knows. It felt like a bunch of character development got deleted. I don't get why evil mom stopped trying to get her daughter back just because a couple of cars got run off the road.
But I love the fact that, as in all Vin Diesel movies I really like, the women really call the shots. I love the fact he became the solar hero, going dark and light again and again, despite himself; I like the way that I see more in this the more I think about it. Two thumbs up. And I shall eagerly await the director's cut. Eagerly.