If a film manages to provoke dialogue or debate, then it cannot be considered to be without value. In the case of Babylon A.D., that debate was: Which is worse, a bad story or a bad ending? The argument could made that both descriptions apply to this Vin Diesel vehicle, but I submit that the story could have really gone somewhere, had anyone cared to invest as much in the storytelling as was invested in the visual pyrotechnics.
Set in a dim near-future society in which militarism, extreme capitalism, and violent unrest have pervaded the entire globe, Diesel plays a mercenary who is hired to transport a young woman from a secluded Russian convent to New York City in exchange for being provided a fake “passport” to allow him to re-enter the country from which he had been previously banned (for reasons that are never explained). As part of the intended intrigue of the film is discovering the purpose of the journey and the importance of the young woman, I won’t give too much away other than to say that if you are like me, you will find the revelation satisfying, but is execution and resolution abysmal. Adding to the frustration of the crude (in multiple ways) ending is the fact that the story is told in flashback, thereby implying that the filmmakers had given significant thought about the arc and resolution of the story. Instead, one is left with the impression that after the budget for explosions and CGI ran out, a decision was made to end the film with the bluntest of narrative instruments, hoping that after the progressively greater screen time by a ridiculous character embodied by Charlotte Rampling, the audience would be thankful for the relief.
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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