Will Kassovitz Like Babylon A.D. More At Home?

How do you get people to buy a movie that’s panned not only by critics, but even its own director? Pack the DVD version with tons of extras and keep your fingers crossed. Back when Babylon A.D. film was released in late August, director Mathieu Kassovitz sat down with AMC and bashed his own work. How did Kassovitz describe the film? "It's pure violence and stupidity … parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24."

What Kassovitz was aiming for when he made Babylon A.D. was a film that would “teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet.” This goal was pursued through the story of a mercenary named Toorop (Vin Diesel), who is hired to escort a young woman from the dangerous post-apocalyptic Eastern Europe to the dazzling New York City. What begins as a mere job assignment turns out to be an adventure that would determine the fate of the world.

If you feel like putting some faith in this film, you’ll have three buying options. There’s the standard DVD edition for $29.98, which comes with a featurette describing how the Maurice G. Dantec novel the film was based on became a feature film, an inside look at the snow mobile chase and a peek at Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia. If you bump it up a notch to the 2-disc special edition DVD for $34.98, you’ll get a digital copy of the film, both featurettes from the standard edition as well as three additional featurettes: one about the martial arts in the film, another about the Humvee chase and a third about the graphic novel prequel to Babylon A.D. . For the ultimate sci-fi treat you can get the Blu-ray edition for $39.99, which includes everything from the 2-disc set as well as interactive “scene evolution” in BonusVIEW mode.

If banging into the New Year isn’t enough for you, come January 6th, you can take home Babylon A.D.: Raw and Uncut. I bet watching the ball drop and seeing some fireworks is enough of an explosion for Kassovitz.