Babylon A.D.

Babylon A.D. is a 2008 science fiction action film based on the 1999 novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. The film was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Vin Diesel in the lead role, Mélanie Thierry, Michelle Yeoh, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong, Jérôme Le Banner, Charlotte Rampling, and Gérard Depardieu. It was released on 29 August 2008 in the United States. It is an international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Plot In a dystopian near-future, Russian mobster Gorsky hires the mercenary Toorop to bring a young woman known only as Aurora from Asia to New York City. Gorsky gives Toorop a variety of weapons and a subdermally implanted UN passport. Toorop, the girl, and, her guardian, Sister Rebeka, travel from the Noelite Convent in Kyrgyzstan to reach New York via Russia. Unlike in the technologically advanced U.S., war and terrorist activity have transformed Russia's cities into dangerous, overpopulated slums. The stress of humanity's situation causes Aurora to act out in strange ways and display clairvoyance abilities. On one such occasion, Aurora, seemingly for no reason, panics and runs from a crowded train station, just before it explodes in a terrorist attack. The protagonists must also evade an unknown group of mercenaries claiming to have been sent by Aurora's supposedly dead father. Later, they board a submarine that carries refugees to Canada. To avoid satellite detection, the Captain of the submarine orders his crew to dive and he shoots some of the refugees still trying to get on board. Aurora, infuriated by the loss of life, operates the 30-year-old submarine without training. Sister Rebeka tells Toorop that Aurora could speak nineteen different languages by the age of two, and always seems to know things she has never learned. Three months before leaving with Toorop, she began acting differently. This occurred after a Noelite doctor administered a pill. The doctor told her to go to New York City and arranged for Toorop to escort them.