Babylon AD

Despite all its noise and bluster, this big-budget blockbuster is actually a rather slight dystopian sci-fi thriller. Vin Diesel plays Toorop, a bounty hunter with a heart who accepts "one last job". He must escort a young psychic (Mélanie Thierry) and her kung fu nun chaperone (Michelle Yeoh) from a post-nuclear meltdown Russia to the relatively safe haven of a gentrified New York. This flimsy, no-questions-asked pretext provides the excuse for a series of high-kicking, bone-crunching set pieces as opposing outside forces intervene, including a megalomaniacal religious cult run by Charlotte Rampling. There are explosive car chases - including one across the frozen wastes of Alaska on snowmobiles - and some fashionable parkour, but despite moments of flimsy philosophical meditation (not the statuesque Diesel's strong suit), Babylon AD only really works as mindless entertainment.