Hollywood. Vin Diesel’s upcoming Babylon A.D. isn’t exactly the most anticipated movie of the summer, but it’s directed by French director and actor Matthieu Kassovitz, who has earned a following in the past. Kassovitz apparently turned in a version that was 160 minutes long for European release, but the version that will come out in the U.S. and the U.K. is only 90 minutes long.
That’s right, a solid 70 minutes have apparently been cut. Not only that, but according to Twitch Film it’s apparently garnered the equivalent of a PG-13 rating in the U.K., which is way less than what the Twitch guys are accustomed to from Kassovitz. As they put it, “With some directors this wouldn’t be an issue but Kassovitz is the man who made La Haine and Crimson Rivers and there’s absolutely no way he set out to make a PG-13 rated action picture, no way at all. Sigh.”
I can’t share their dismay since I’ve never seen one of his movies, but it doesn’t surprise me at all that an action movie nearing three hours would be cut. Remember how no one saw Grindhouse because the teenage boys it targeted wouldn’t sit still that long? Remember how we all start getting antsy in a movie at the hour and a half mark, no matter how good it is? Call me a nonbeliever or whatever you like, but I cannot imagine sitting through a three-hour Vin Diesel action movie.
This probably also means the movie will be a mess, with almost half of it cut out, and not all that worth seeing to begin with. Vin Diesel fans, wait for the DVD, which will inevitably feature the director’s cut and lots of cursing from Kassovitz about how they ruined his vision.
