A film about language and communication would normally grab my interest immediately. For the better part of this film the sheer quality and topics of most of the separate stories managed to do just that. There is enough to enjoy here, with strong performances and interesting subjects.

It is, however, also infuriatingly moronic in its contrived and forced narrative link. It makes a capital mistake in that it feels the incessant need to 'mean something'. It does so by force…

Babel, why are you so hard to rate? There are moments of brilliance in which strong acting and scriptwriting kept me on the edge of my seat. But it's inter-cut with heavy-handed dramatic nonsense and put together like a bad patchwork scarecrow.

With just the Moroccan and Mexican storylines, this could have been called "White Family Has a Bad Day." And that might actually have been a pretty good movie (with some serious massaging of the Mexican script and better…

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Babel centres on a complex, but beautifully woven narrative, which transcends international, sociological and cultural boundaries to offer a meditation of shared humanity. The central thematic narrative travels through Morocco, Mexico, Japan and the United States to show how a single tragic moment can ricochet around the globe and affect many, very different lives.

What sets Babel apart from its counterparts is the remarkable way in which Iñárritu captures the different rhythms of life in his diverse…

Broadly sweeping barrier separation film that is intimately presented as an emotional, physical and linguistic commentary. For what somehow appears to be six and a half years now, Iñárritu's Death trilogy concluded in his most hugely ambitious communication experience. Despite frustratingly transitioning scenes at crucial moments, the film managed to pull me into its geographical and individual character hardship. By allowing us into the silent world of Chieko and the paroxysm disco sequence, we have a sense of being right…

A very slow moving, multi-layered, multi-racial drama about human nature and a connected series of tragic mistakes that affect the lives of people on three continents is an ambitious idea, but never something that was going to particularly grab you for over two hours.

This has flashes of brilliance in fits and starts, struggling to join together as a cohesive whole. Don't imagine this is a Brad/Cate film either, those two Hollywood megastars merely form part of an ensemble, getting…

What do you say about a film like Babel? It’s one of those films that the Academy loves, with its all-star cast and big, important “messages”. Too bad the actual film is a complete mess.

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu simply doesn’t take the time to craft his characters into fully faceted humans. Every character goes through great turmoil, and while that in itself can be interesting to watch, it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t feel like we understand who…