Are you easily amused?
Are the sort of person that thought the three concurrent, unrelated plotlines of Crash or Syriana was the height of genius?
Are you led to be impressed by a filmmaker, no matter how weak or forced the plot, simply because he has joined two unrelated plotlines together with a tenuous and contrived link?
If so, you will LOVE Babel. I was bored out of my brain.
I thought it was weak. It was like watching three average short films, with characters that weren’t well developed, in scenarios where the viewer was forced to sympathise with their plight, all linked by… um… the fact that one of them went hunting, gave a gun to someone else who sold it to someone else, who someone else accidently.
I loved Amores Perros. It was a really great film. Babel is the same format, however done very badly. The multi-plot concept as a means to make a film is tired. Leave it alone.
Don’t leave it up to me, here’s a good summary of the best reviews:
“…all his films feel overly “directed” in the worst sense of the word: the jumbled chronology…and the plotting feel arbitrary: Bad things don’t merely happen to his characters; Gonz√ɬ°lez I√ɬ±√ɬ°rritu inflicts these catastrophes on them.”
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
“A collection of often powerful scenes in search of something grand to say.”
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk
“This is one of those movies that would work better at home, where you could pause the tape when you need to take a break or fast forward when things start to slow down too much.”
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
“In the end, a film of profound ambition is unmasked as one without real purpose, a misguided attempt to make a serious, important statement despite having nothing, really, to say.”
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
“Iarritu has enough talent to shake up conventional moviemaking. But he still hasn’t figured out how to use it.”
David Denby, New Yorker
“Succeeds only in making noise.”
Chris Barsanti, filmcritic.com
“What was that all about?”
Con Frantzeskos