Babylon: Overlong and Shallow

A number of movies have come out lately that have been way longer than they needed to be. It is almost as if studios are receiving a cut of the movie from the director and are willing to tell them to be cut down to a certain length to make the story more concise. To varying degrees, movies like Avatar: The Way of Water, The Batman, Elvis, and The Fabelmans could have benefitted from cutting the movie down to fit into a more theatrically-friendly length. Of these, Babylon has to be the most egregious considering it clocks in at about three hours while still has massive structural and pacing issues. In a way, this makes it a fitting cap-off to 2022 at the cinema.

Babylon follows Nellie (Margot Robbie), Jack (Brad Pitt), and Manny (Diego Calva) as their careers evolve during the transition from the silent era to early talkies. Nellie has to deal with her rising stardom, Jack has to deal with his declining stardom (not unlike Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and Manny has to deal with his expanding role within the studio system. The star-studded cast is filled out with Tobey Maguire, Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Katherine Waterston, and Phoebe Tonkin.

The strongest thing about this movie are the performances, mostly from Diego Calva who proves himself to be a valuable asset since he can hold his own against both Robbie and Pitt. Pitt and Robbie also have strong performances, however Brad Pitt is a known entity and the viewer knows he can act well (especially when a once legendary actor who is having a hard time getting roles as a leading man in movies is not exactly a stretch) and Margot Robbie is bringing a similar energy audiences know from her portrayal of Harley Quinn. That’s not to say the characters are the same, but the viewer knows she can play this style character.

The biggest issue with the film is that the various plot threads do not dovetail as neatly as they need to for the third act to come together in an emotional way. Because there are three leads (and a minor subplot with Adepo’s Sidney), no one character gets a chance to develop neatly due to the jump between storylines. Arguably, the only character who has a completed arc within the confines of the movie without the viewer bringing their understanding of narrative to the table is Jack who is not the main character of the film. For the third act to work, the relationship between Nellie and Manny needs to be better explained and have more interactions with each other besides a few scattered interactions over the course of a decade that never feels like there is any affection besides a surface level platonic relationship that borders on a strictly professional relationship after a certain point. When Manny leans into the latter, he is portrayed (unfairly) as the bad guy, however Nellie is so unsympathetic at that point that it feels tonally dissonant.

This problem is only made more apparent by the number of party scenes that provide little to the film. About 40 minutes could be cut, just in the form of removing these party sequences that provide context on the rarest of occasions. These sequences feel like a concept artist came up with a cool costume design or piece of the set and everything was just kept in rather than culling the ideas to just the best of the best.

Babylon is not the worst movie of the year by a long shot, however it is definitely the worst entry in Damien Chazelle’s filmography. The issues addressed do not even touch on the third act to avoid spoilers for those who want to see the movie, however some of the most egregious issues lie there. Viewers will probably get the most enjoyment from the movie watching at home on Paramount+ when it inevitably hits the streamer, especially considering the length.

Final Rating: 6/10