Babylon A.D. is a futuristic movie based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec, starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh and Mélanie Thierry.
Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh and Melanie Thierry in "Babylon A.D."
The movie begins with the voice of Vin Diesel telling the stories of his life. He mentioned that everyday we see signs of saving the planet but from who? From ourselves? Then he said “I’m tired, tired of it all.”
Toorop (Vin Diesel) is a retired war soldier and lives a war torn life in Eastern Europe. He is having breakfast when a SWAT team busts in to bring him to Gorsky (Gerard Depardieu). Gorsky wants Toorop to take the job of escorting a woman named Aurora (Mélanie Thierry) from Eastern Europe to New York. Toorop demands half a million and Gorsky agrees.
Toorop then goes inside a car which is carried by a helicopter to a Mongolia convent where Sister Rebecca (Michelle Yeoh) is waiting for him. She tells Toorop that wherever Aurora goes, she will goes with her.
So, the journey begins and the three set off to a train station in Kazakhstan where a bomb detonates but Aurora has predicted it and they survive.
Then, they stop at Vladivostok nightclub as Toorop plans to meet his friend, Finn (Mark Strong) there who can provide transport to the United States. Some unidentified men show up and offers Toorop a million dollar, tax free. Somehow, Toorop prefers half a million dollar better and fights them off and tries to escape with Sister Rebecca and Aurora but he ends up in a cage which is staging Ultimate Fighting Championship-style death matches as Aurora is protected by the fighter. Toorop has no choice but to survive by killing him off.
The men who tries to kidnap Aurora claim they are sent by Aurora’s father, which Sister Rebecca and Aurora have thought he has been long dead, which makes Toorop even more confused. Somewhat, he still stays with the girls and they have to fight their way into a submarine before arriving in North America.
In North America, snowmobiles await them and they travel at a high speed but is tracked down and chased by fighter jets. Toorop distracts the jets and even escapes at least two guided missiles before plunging his snowmobile into one of the jets causing both to explode. Miraculously, Toorop survives.
When they finally reach New York — in which the futuristic New York is pictured with more skyscrapers and tonnes of electronic billboards, Toorop prepares to hand in Aurora to Gorsky’s men whom in turn will hand her in to Neolite Priestess (Charlotte Rampling). However, a television channel reports news of the Mongolian convent being bombed has changed Toorop’s mind. Instead of handling her to either one of the gangs, he opens fire and once again they run. Only now, Toorop learns that Aurora is the host to an organism that has the potential to become the next Messiah and everybody wants to get their hands on it. But it’s too late as Aurora fires a shot at him to prevent him being killed by a guided missile.
Toorop is later resurrected by Aurora’s creator, Darquandier. Toorop is seen with artificial leg and his right arm is fitted with metals. Although, Toorop manages to find Aurora in the end, it is unknown how Aurora dies as she gives birth to twin girls of whom Aurora hands them to Toorop’s care.
Overall, it is a movie with a good storyline. However, Vin Diesel seems like a very tired mercenary whom at first willing to transport Aurora to New York for half a million dollar but refuses a million dollar, tax-free?
Unlike what Toorop said earlier in the movie, “I learned something that day: you can’t always walk away. Too bad it was the day I died”, you can still walk away from this movie.
Babylon A.D. is a science fiction film based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. The film is being directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Yeoh.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which also known as The Mummy 3 is the sequel to The Mummy and The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser reprising his role as Richard “Rick” O’Connell.
Jet Li as the Emperor Han in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor "
Emperor Han (Jet Li) is a tyrannical emperor who wants to dominate the entire world and has managed to conquer everything except his age. As he is slowly aging, his mission is to find immortality. Han commands his general, Ming Guo (Russell Wong) to bring a sorceress called Zi Juan (Michelle Yeoh) who happens to know the way to immortality to him. When Zi Juan says she doesn’t have but only know where to find it, Han warns Ming Guo to escort her but not to touch her as she belongs to the emperor.
During the search for immortality, Ming Guo betrays the emperor’s trust by having an affair with Zi Juan. When Ming Guo and Zi Juan return to the emperor, the emperor punishes Ming Guo by having his arms and feet tied to the horses. Han suggests to Zi Juan to give herself to him if she wants to live, but she promptly refuses. As a result, Han commands his armies to tear Ming Guo apart while he stabs a dagger onto Zi Juan. Before long, Han and his armies turn into statues as a result of the curse cast by Zi Juan earlier.
The movie fast forward to 1940, which Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Evelyn O’Connell (played by Maria Bello as Rachel Weisz has dropped out) are retired from their exploring jobs. Their lives now are boring and simply monotonous. When the opportunity to go to Shanghai to return an ancient artifact to the government of China, the O’Connell takes the chance without a second thought Evelyn’s brother, Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah) runs a nightclub in Shanghai.
The O’Connell are tricked into General Yang’s (Anthony Wong) plot of resurrecting Emperor Han and his terracotta warriors and are forced to prevent Yang’s absurd ambition. Coincidentally, it was their son, Alex O’Connell (Luke Ford) who has earlier discovered the terracotta warriors. Lin (Isabella Leong) shows up and tells Alex that she’s the guardian of the tomb, but when a fight ensues between General Yang’s men and the O’Connell, the resurrection potion falls and it has awakened Emperor Han.
Anthony Wong and a Yeti in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor "
Then, come the part where the O’Connell family chases Emperor Han and General Yang in order to stop them from reaching to a place called Shangri-La, where Han will be able to resurrect his armies. The cat and mouse chasing is quite fun but the plots are predictable.
Lin even summons the Yetis to fight along side the O’Connell as they are outnumbered by General Yang’s armies.
But, despite all the efforts to stop Han, he finally manages to find Shangri-La and after he jumps into the pool of immortality, he emerges as a three-headed dragon and flies back to his base in order to resurrect his terracotta warriors. In order to fight back, Zi Juan and her daughter sacrifice their immortality to bring back the undead who are buried by Emperor Han during the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Although the fight between the terracotta warriors and the undead are impressive, the movie is brought to an abrupt ending when Han is easily killed by Rick and Alex who fight hand-to-hand combat with Han. Overall, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is quite disappointing especially in terms of plot and fighting scenes where the real actions are missing. Perhaps, like The X-Files, people are already bored with Rick and his adventures of killing mummies. Somehow, in the last scene, Jonathan is seen holding the valuable piece of diamond artifact to Peru — hint us the next Mummy movie will be set in Peru. After all, after having done with Egypt and China, Peru’s ancient Moche pyramid is very likely the next target.
Children of Huang Shi (also known as Escape from Huang Shi) is a movie the occupation of Japan in China in the 1930’s. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh.
