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Briggykins · 11-07-2009, 10:19

Babel

Picked this up simply because the wife noticed it had Brad Pitt in. It follows the stories of four groups of people who are affected in some way by one of them firing a gun, and is meant to show how we're all interconnected blah blah etc.
It didn't have any new ideas and those that were here were trapped within a turgid storyline which meandered about all over the place without really getting anywhere. The film could easily have had about half an hour shaved off just by cutting out the shots where the camera lingered on one person not doing very much. Some of the plots (especially the Japanese story) remain pointlessly unresolved at the end of the film, and some of the plots are just pointless (Mexico lady, I'm looking at you).
Plus points are the scenes set in the hills of Morocco, where the scenery is stunning in a harsh, barren way. The Moroccan kids story is also one of the more interesting as at least it has some kind of interesting plot that gets properly sorted at the end. Can't complain about the quality of the acting either - all the kids do well and the Mexican woman is very good.
The film received quite a lot of awards so I may well be missing some grand message behind the film, but imo it doesn't do anything the Butterfly Effect didn't do a lot better and in a lot more entertaining way. Can't give this film any more than 3/10.

11-07-2009, 10:19	#11
Briggykins Vodka Martini Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Exeter Posts: 753	Babel Picked this up simply because the wife noticed it had Brad Pitt in. It follows the stories of four groups of people who are affected in some way by one of them firing a gun, and is meant to show how we're all interconnected blah blah etc. It didn't have any new ideas and those that were here were trapped within a turgid storyline which meandered about all over the place without really getting anywhere. The film could easily have had about half an hour shaved off just by cutting out the shots where the camera lingered on one person not doing very much. Some of the plots (especially the Japanese story) remain pointlessly unresolved at the end of the film, and some of the plots are just pointless (Mexico lady, I'm looking at you). Plus points are the scenes set in the hills of Morocco, where the scenery is stunning in a harsh, barren way. The Moroccan kids story is also one of the more interesting as at least it has some kind of interesting plot that gets properly sorted at the end. Can't complain about the quality of the acting either - all the kids do well and the Mexican woman is very good. The film received quite a lot of awards so I may well be missing some grand message behind the film, but imo it doesn't do anything the Butterfly Effect didn't do a lot better and in a lot more entertaining way. Can't give this film any more than 3/10. __________________ Last edited by Briggykins; 11-07-2009 at 10:22.