My wife and I watched Babel on DVD last night. Both of us thought it was pretty slow, not very good.
Babel tells four stories that are, in varying degrees, interrelated. In my opinion, none of the four stories are very engaging. Much of the camera work was the handheld camcorder shots that are in vogue. I’ll be happy when that particular fad falls from grace. They don’t look any better when Hollywood does them.
The movie leads off with the Cate Blanchett’s character, Susan, asking her husband played by Brad Pitt, “what are we doing here?” They are presumably vacationing in Morocco. The more rural areas of Morocco, from the look of it. I spent the rest of the movie wondering at the answer to Susan’s question. Good actors did a reasonable job in delivering a mediocre script. Editing was on par with the writing.
Babel is, in my opinion, very similar to another movie, Mystery Train. Mystery Train is far more interesting. Not quite the star-studded cast but a much better story, told in a very interesting and surprising way.