As Babylon A.D., the futuristic film starring Vin Diesel, rolls out into theaters one has to wonder: Will this help give the actor with a once-promising movie career the comeback he deserves?
There was very little advertising for Babylon A.D. up until just a couple of weeks ago, but the real kicker is that last week the director himself slammed Fox Studios. Fox produced and is releasing the movie, and he says that executive meddling has ruined the film.
So I’m asking: If Babylon A.D. bombs, will it be the failure that flatlines Vin Diesel’s career for good?
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Over at Rotten Tomatoes, Babylon A.D. currently has 28 reviews posted so far, with a rotten level of only 7% of them being positive. OUCH! Plus, director Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika and the insane and insanely good La Haine) has been complaining about the way Fox (mis-) treated the film from day one.
Depending on various sources, 15-30 minutes was allegedly cut from the film in order to make it more appealing to American audiences. (Rumor has it there will be a longer version for the international release.) And, as often happens, that ‘trimming process’ is said to have left the film’s plot in shambles. That’s part of Kassovitz’ complaints, though he says it all started in the scripting phase.
It also doesn’t help that Fox didn’t pre-screen the movie officially to critics, which is always the telltale sign of a flop. Fox has already had a bad year at the movies, (they had the lowest box office take for Summer ‘08) and it doesn’t help that they’ve riled up fanboys over the whole Watchmen lawsuit. (For more on the Babylon A.D. fiasco with some juicy Kassovitz quotes, be sure to check out yesterday’s mid-week wrap-up.)
So what to make of all of this?
It seems to be Fox’s fault that Babylon A.D. is going to be D.O.A., and the movie’s failure is certainly not going to help Vin Diesel’s career. Vin’s white-hot streak seemed to have hit the brakes after the disappointing box office returns of Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick all but killed a potential franchise; though that franchise may yet crawl out of the grave (more on that in a minute).
Diesel was huge after the one-two-three punch of Pitch Black (2000), The Fast and the Furious (2001) and the rotten-but-box-office hit xXx (2002). Vin Diesel was on his way to becoming the kind of bonafide action star not seen since the 80’s. Once Riddick failed (but did great as a video game, which has a sequel coming out soon), he did very few movies. Other than the surprise box-office-hit family movie, The Pacifier (2005), Vin hasn’t had much in the way of films since 2004.
Babylon A.D.’s Vin Diesel in Chronicles of Riddick
And Babylon, A.D., once touted as his return to the top, isn’t going to help him. Maybe the quiet roll-out in late August (a dumping-ground for movies much like January) won’t hurt too much. He had a cameo in The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift as Dominic Toretto and will reprise that role, headlining the The Fast and Furious 4 which hits theaters next summer.
Add to that the fact that Pitch Black and Riddick’s talented writer/director David Twohy is said to be working on a third and fourth film in the Riddick series. Vin says this will end up being a separate trilogy from Pitch Black, which introduced the character. For more, check out our coverage.
Fans of Vin Diesel still have much love for him, and I think a large part of it is because we don’t have a solid action star filling his spot right now. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hasn’t done a straight-up action film in quite a while and he’s not likely to return to the genre. It’s easy to imagine why fans would love to see Vin do well again. That and the fact that he’s a talented actor, who just can’t seem to reclaim his glory after Riddick bombed and xXx failed to please.
But then this is America: Land of second chances. Here’s hoping Vinny makes good on the second go around.
Sources: Ain’t It Cool News, MTV Movie News Blog, Joystiq
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21 Comments
Massawyrm over at AICN (who I usually agree with on movie reviews) ripped Babylon A.D. a new one:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38119
Vic
That’s a pity, it looked like quite a promising film… I do hope Vin can restart his career, he’s a very good actor… just caught-up in the wrong films.
We all knew this movie would suck from the director bashing Fox, and rightfully bashing at that.
I don’t think Vin’s career will be hurt by this, all he needs are some big roles in larger-cast films or as secondary characters in blockbusters to get him topping the lists again.
With Fast and the Furious, and hopefully two more Riddick films, he’ gonna have a huge career.
Personally, I’m a huge fan of him, he does alot more than just act and he’s passionate and intelligent with his projects. A couple of my family members got a chance to meet him when they were filming Pacifier and said he was incredibly nice and the kids friggin loved him, he took a bunch of the fans and showed him his personal ride and all the cool things in it.
I aint gonna see this Babylon A.D. because of what Fox did, but I feel bad the Vin got stuck in the middle of it
I really hope Fox keeps falling down, they need to clean house and start respecting talent and intellectual properties.
This movie in my opinion is going to be a huge bomb like the one that causes the end of the world, but this will not be a career smasher for Vin Diesel. In 2009 Universal is releasing Fast and Furious. This will be the fourth movie in the Fast and the Furious franchise and I believe it will be the best one to date. The original cast is back and ready to tear up the streets on the big screen again. This will be Vin’s last chance to get his name back in the lime light. We also have to realize that Vin Diesel is an action hero and does not have many roles available to him. He is in the same category as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, once led to believe to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger. New movies today are not made for guys like this anymore. Action heroes are getting smaller in order to relate more to the audience which is too bad for the true action stars like Vin and The Rock. It is only a matter of time before they receive the role that is tailor made for them like Vin Diesels role as Riddick.
The movie seems to have a good premise, but I cant imagine it doing well. Though I dont think that will matter as far as Vin’s career is concerned. He may never be a huge box office draw, but that doesnt mean that he cant make a great living starring in lesser films or having smaller roles. On a side note, I think the male action star (and action star in general, I guess) is something that is quickly disappearing. There will probably never be another Arnold or Bruce Willis. I just haven’t seen any young actor who has that ability, even though we keep hearing about people being the next “fill in the blank here”
I will watch it to support Diesel and Sci-fi but I think FOX is @#^@$ for what they did to it, and I bet Ill still like it.
Vin is great, I never hated him in any movie I loved him in every role he played and no I didn’t watch The Pacifier. I don’t think this will hurt his career, he just needs to find better movies, I think Fast & Furious is a good start, Riddick movies are perfect for him too, I think that franchise is golden. The studios execs just need to pull their heads out. I also would love to see him finally make that Hannibal the Conqueror movie we haven’t seen Diesel in a period movie yet and I bet it would be awesome.
I’ve never seen La Haine, but Gothika was horrible, so I kind of think this movie was bad because of a bad script and probably because of a bad director. But who knows, maybe Fox did screw it up as well, we all know that’s not too far of a stretch…
Well even the book that inspired the movie “Babylon Babbie’s” is controversial. I guess the most sensical criticism is that it bogs down in the middle of the story so much that the supposed pay-off at the end wasn’t worth the effort. That’s a pity too because they wasted a lot of money and talent on a movie. I think with international dollars it will break even, but that doesn’t give Mr. Diesel any cred. on his Filmography.
Yah, well, he already has the next Fast an the Furious on his books, lol.
I am confused.
Vin Diesel had a COMEBACK?
I sincerely thought his career was already dead .
Babylon, AD is based on a book, which I wonder if it’s better… And BIG THANKS to Vic for helping me with this article!!
heath
Heath McKnight “Babylon Baby’s” yes and it was panned too. It was mainly criticized for bogging down in the middle so badly, as to put most readers off finishing it. It supposedly had a rewarding ending, though few thought it worth suffering for.
If somebody here gives it a good review I might give it a shot .
@Gary
Don’t waste your money, bud. I hear Babylon A.D. is TERRIBLE.
Vic
vin diesel can’t quit. he is the best
Darn Vic ,
that makes next week a long weekend!
babylon a.d. can’t cancel his comeback!
Vin diesel is just simply awesome, there is no one who could have played that roll any better.
Career come back?
The man never went dead, he just not a sell out to science-fiction.
5 stars Vin, they just jealous cause they could’nt make the role as toorop in a hundred years.
estas super papi me gustas
mucho y muchisimo de verdad me gustaria conocerte en persona bueno si se puede besos bye te manda saludos una fan tuya papiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
si tu
eres lo mas sexy q he visto, me enamore desde q vi esa pelicula, tu voz me encanta, besos
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