BBCi FILMS - Readers' Reviews

Mark
Well made & well acted. Pretentious & pointless? You bet.

Nick
Some good performances, but overall I wondered what was the point of it all...

Steve Maloney
Watchable but massively disappointing. Overblown with not much of a story to tell, and taking a long time to tell it.

stuart
This is a strange film and doesn't really develop the stories enough too slow and guarantee if no brad pitt no one would watch it!

Hayden
Watched this in NZ. Dull. Tries to be Crash but nowhere near as good. No surprises, no thought. You just sit and watch it for 2 hours and at the end think "well that was obvious". No idea what all the fuss is about with this one

Ian Sanders.
Considerably better than most Hollywood pap, but disappointing from the director of 21 Grams, who may have read too many of his own reviews and be now comencing that long, slow ascent of his own nether orifice that is so often the lot of the auteur-wannabe.

Leo
This is a very moving film, the stories are strong and Alejandro Gonzalez did a great job in presenting them! We are part of a global world, and this film remind us that communication among cultures is extremely important. Those who compare babel with Crash, have no clue of other cultures, the films are completely different and suely Babel gives us a wider view of the world.

Martin
I want two hours of my life back, this film is so dull. It tries to cash in on other film ideas but the plot is so thin, infact I don't think it had a plot!!! Avoid it at all costs.

john
Tries to replicate what Tarantino did with 4 Rooms, and Crash,but is rather unconvincing.We can all no doubt relate to the frustrations stemming from the bureaucracy prevalent in each of the stories, however, the common thread was inconsequential . None of the stories merit being told on their own right, and linking them just created one very long, only mildly interesting movie. One to avoid.

Darren
Wonderfully acted by all, not least by mr. pitt himself, as usual. He is by no means a domanant character within the film however, as the action constantly flicks between the three stoies being told, the link between which is, to be honest, weak, and almost incidental. The biggest disappointment about this film is the lack of an ending as such, no real twist or exciting crescendo here.

Roy Batty
In Iñárritu's best movie yet we have his trademark linked storyline (though thankfully this link isn't the elephant in the room lesser directors may overplay). Instead we get four credible stories, each with their own emotion and intrigue. Overlaid with a superb soundtrack and set against the best cinematography this side of Chris Doyle, it's already movie of the year. Sublime.

Marilyn Anderson
The mélange of Babel, with breathtaking switches between cultures and time, pivots on a biblical theme as the title suggests, a mix of chaotic voices, and on a Shakespearean one (also of biblical origin) that the sins of the father will be visited upon sons and daughters. Three fathers- Moroccan, Japanese, America–make decisions that impact their children’s fates catastrophicall y. Magnifique.