Babylon is just one of those movies that is too long for no good reason. It’s becoming a trend nowadays and I’m not happy about it.

At first, Babylon comes out swinging. The beginning of the movie is chaotic and really fun. It reminded me of The Wolf of Wall Street in a way. Margot Robbie is fantastic and it promises you the world. Until the half way mark, the time flies by, but it goes south reeeaaaaallllyyy fast after that.

The whole tone of the movie changes… The arcs felt forced and were not fun to watch after that. The fancy party (especially the vomit part) was bizarre. Manny’s sudden upswing in the world felt way too sudden. The ‘blackface scene’ was just there to upset the audience. We see way to little of Nellie’s gambling problem for it too come back in this big way. And the whole sequence in ‘the asshole of LA’ added nothing to the story and is just there to shock you one last time. It’s was bad choice after bad choice in the second half.

I get that they wanted to show the whole old vs. new thing, the rise of cinema as we know it and the icons that get lost on the way to new things. But the first and the last part were way to different for it to be a coherent masterpiece.

Honestly, I’m sad that it turned out this way. I was hoping for more and it looked like it was going that way at first. It’s super disappointing and I feel generous when I give it a 6/10. This could’ve been more.

At this point, Damien Chazelle’s career trajectory is one of upping the amount of Oscar bait with every new project.
And I get it, what happened with _La La Land_ at the Academy Awards was most unfortunate, but this film should even be lucky to get nominated, because it's not going to be remembered beyond that.
It’s essentially an exhausting, empty, 3 hour mess that thinks it’s a lot deeper than it is. Lots of fancy camerawork, lots of showy acting, lots of coke and nudity, lots of scenes where it’s clearly trying to be _Boogie Nights_, but it does not stick the landing at all. Showing excess can be fun and interesting, but combined with the cocaine fueled, Michael Bay-esque editing style it ends up feeling more like Scorsese for the inattentive Tiktok generation. It also leaves you on a note that I thought was incredibly indulgent and pretentious, which soured me even more on the whole experience.
It’s not even one of those films where you need to have a critical eye or a good understanding of cinema in order to get why it’s bad, it’s pretty upfront right from the start. It fails with a lot of the basics, such as plotting (which is incoherent), pacing (which is all over the place) and music (which is incredibly annoying). I wish I could at least praise the acting or characters, but it’s all so over the top in the most annoying, unfunny way. I like the cinematography and some individual moments, but that’s kinda it. The whole film starts with an elephant taking a shit into the camera, so at the very least Chazelle seems to self-aware about what he has delivered here; a massive turd that doesn’t play to his strengths as a filmmaker.


4/10

So many cool sequences and awesome moments. The comedy was hit and miss for me, it's incredibly funny in some scenes and in others incredibly unfunny. Checks all the boxes on a technical level: acting, visuals, costumes.... and the score, the fucking trumpet, I wanna marry that thing.

There's sooo much stuff happening though, it's incredibly exhausting and especially for 3 hours. So chaotic, terribly out of pace, tonally erratic and lacks focus. The performances are absolutely brilliant but it doesn't necessarily make interesting characters, I couldn't connect with any of them and didn't really care about their storylines. It also strays too much from it's original idea with misleading subplots. Most of the time I completely forgot this was even about the 1920s transition from silent to sound movies. It does, thankfully, get back on track before it's third act but you're left realising all these filler scenes were meaningless sinse it ultimately goes for a simplistic ending. The last 15 minutes montage absolutely makes me appreciate film and it's evolution but this movie as a whole: nope. I rather watch the movies featured in the montage, that'll make me appreciate film.

Amidst all this there's the trumpet guy, playing his trumpet... and man did he ever play that trumpet!

Damien Chazelle's Babylon is grand in nature and visually striking, but its structure is not entirely solid. Unlike his previous films, Whiplash, La La Land, and First Man, Babylon left me feeling disconnected. The film explores the excesses and debauchery of 1920s Hollywood as the industry transitions from silent films to "talkies." The performances by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva are strong, and the cinematography and score are impressive. However, the writing and runtime detract from the overall impact of the film. The characters feel like caricatures and the second half lacks focus. The movie also pays homage to Singin' in the Rain, which hinders the delivery of the story. While Babylon is a feast for the eyes, it ultimately falls short in delivering a cohesive and emotionally engaging narrative.
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Babylon de Damien Chazelle es grande en su naturaleza y visualmente impresionante, pero su estructura no es del todo sólida. A diferencia de sus películas anteriores, Whiplash, La La Land y First Man, Babylon me dejó con una sensación de desconexión. La película explora los excesos y la decadencia de Hollywood de los años 20 mientras la industria se transiciona de las películas mudas a las "habladas". Las actuaciones de Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie y Diego Calva son sólidas y la fotografía y la banda sonora son impresionantes. Sin embargo, la escritura y la duración restan impacto a la película. Los personajes se sienten como caricaturas y la segunda mitad carece de enfoque. La película también rinde homenaje a Singin' in the Rain, lo que dificulta la entrega de la historia. Aunque Babylon es una delicia para los ojos, finalmente falla en la entrega de una narrativa cohesiva y emocionalmente atractiva.

_Babylon_ is a visually stunning and stylish film with it’s share of pros and cons. On the one hand, the performances by Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie were outstanding. They truly brought their characters to life and added depth to the story. However, I found that the storyline didn't flow smoothly, and at times it felt disjointed and confusing. Additionally, some of the more grotesque scenes were overly exaggerated, which detracted from the overall experience. Another downside was the length of the movie, which at over 3 hours, felt excessive.