Babel (2006)

CONFUSING

This was the most confusing crock that I have watched in a long time. Already about an hour too long, I had to keep rewinding segments because I thought that I missed something. But I didn't miss anything - the producers and director did - they missed what makes a really good movie. The subject matter is confusing enough without trying to interweave a "Crash"-type scenario across continents and cultures. I'm still trying to figure out how the Mexican nanny fits in and she was the most sympathetic character. The Japanese segment could have been left out altogether - deaf students, weapons, detectives, discos - just too much to digest, with no sake to wash it down with. Leave this one alone and watch "Happy Feet" - fast moving penguins make more sense with their flippers than this movie does! August 3, 2008

What was good about this?

Wow, what a stinker. I was told this was like "Crash." I liked Crash - a lot. This movie drags like molasses as we are shown several different stories that so obviously interconnect that you would have to be a simpleton not to connect most of them long before the reveal.

But mostly, in between long boring scenes which are supposed to teach us about other cultures I suppose, you get to watch stupid people make stupid decision after stupid decision.

My wife and I were talking aloud during the last 30 minutes without even pausing the movie as we discussed the stupid things that were happening and how annoying the whole thing had been.

THEN, they wrap it up with a Hollywood ending that leaves almost no one paying real consequences for their actions and even contradict what you have supposedly known the entire movie.

This was just plain pathetic. I'm disappointed in humanity that this is considered an acclaimed movie. July 19, 2008

Interesting and it kept my attention

No big review here, just that it was interesting and involved 4 separate yet linked events going on around the globe. Brad Pitt more angry than concerned of his wife being shot while Cate Blanchett didn't really get to do much acting, besides laying there. The kids in the village were the key to the movie.
July 14, 2008

What the hell was that?

That's 2 hours and 23 minutes that I'll never get back.
Highly overrated and overblown, there are some great scenes and some great acting in this movie, but at the end of the day, you'll be shaking your head.
I especially loathed the story of the deaf-mute Asian girl and her sexual difficulties.
Critics and Amazon scribes fell all over themselves praising this "epic".
Maybe if it was an hour shorter.
I kept wanting to fast-forward.
Cate Blanchett is wasted in this role and to call this Brad Pitt's best performance, is just laughable.

July 1, 2008

Bad things happen to stupid people

This movie is both stupid and pointless. It is one long and dreary series of bad decisions by stupid people. It is sad and depressing for no good reason at all. There is no redeeming value to the pain and misery inflicted on the characters. It isn't worth making or watching a movie merely because the characters in the story suffer. For pointless suffering I can watch the news.

Unless you are a masochist or need to become depressed, don't buy this movie. I am shredding my DVD to make sure it isn't inflicted on anyone else. June 8, 2008

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