Babylon A.D. (2008)

(In theaters, September 2008) From a promising start, this action/adventure tale sadly devolves into an incomprehensible mess, not unlike the source novel Babylon Babies by French author Maurice Dantec. Director Mathieu Kassovitz has a certain sense of style, and that eye for strong visuals is what props up the film long after it has descended in self-contradictory nonsense. It’s too bad, really, but Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh walk away mostly untouched by the mess: There’s little doubt that the worst thing about the film is the increasingly silly script, which goes from a number of interesting premises to an indescribable mess. The film’s reportedly troubled production history shows up in slap-dash action sequences and an abrupt ending that defies audience satisfaction. This is one of those films whose highlights fit in a single five-minute trailer reel; the rest is entirely useless.