Margot Robbie's Chaotic Hollywood Epic is Now on Netflix
The age of the Hollywood epic is long past us. Gone are the three-hour-plus movies with star-studded casts and huge ambitions. For a time, they were the gold standard, but as film productions became more expensive, theaters chose to screen films with shorter runtimes to maximize profits, and with audiences wanting more straightforward films, the Hollywood epic began to fade away. They still pop up now and then, like with Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) or Dune (2021), but despite the critical acclaim they often receive, they’re rare in an age of more easily consumable media.
But one Hollywood epic was unfairly maligned for its time and was quickly deemed a commercial and critical failure. Despite its all-star cast, led by Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, it released with a bang back in 2022 but was quickly relegated to obscurity. However, now this criminally underrated Hollywood epic is finally getting the credit that it deserves, and with its recent release on Netflix propelling it into the Top 500 on the streaming charts, now is the perfect time to embrace the wild and out-of-control energy of Babylon (2022).
What Is ‘Babylon’ About?
Directed by Damien Chazelle, Babylon is a movie that’s absolutely bursting at the seams with ideas, as you would expect from a film that’s 189 minutes long. But regardless of how overstuffed the film may be because of its gargantuan length, it paints a pretty bold picture of what late 1920’s Hollywood looked and sounded like.
The film centers on a trio of characters, all of whom are heavily involved in the film industry. Brad Pitt plays an older and classy silent movie star, Margot Robbie plays a hot up-and-coming starlet from New Jersey, and Diego Calva appears as a new-faced crew member of Hollywood sets who slowly begins to work his way to the top. The film bounces between them, as we see their careers rise and fall in spectacular fashion. Not everyone gets a happy ending, but their endings feel earned and fitting for the time. Some adapt to the changes of the era, and some simply can’t.
Movies like Babylon aren’t exactly uncommon. Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood (2019) and The Artist (2011) both tackle similar topics of Hollywood stars dealing with the changing times, but very few of them tackle them with as much gonzo energy as Babylon. Babylon revels in debauchery and doesn’t let up. It’s a coked-out fever dream that goes all-in on booze, drugs, and every illicit substance in between. It’s the kind of film that distinguishes itself from other, more sanitized Hollywood films because of its mixture of glamor and grime. You won’t forget watching Babylon anytime soon, that’s for sure.
Why Did ‘Babylon’ Bomb At The Box Office?
There’s no getting around the fact that Babylon is depraved. It owns up to it and flaunts how morally corrupt it is, so it should come as no surprise to hear that the movie bombed at the box office and led to a polarizing critical reception.
Part of why the film failed financially is obvious. After all, any film that releases one week after Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) was destined to fail. Audiences flocked to James Cameron’s blockbuster and left Damien Chazelle’s love letter to the Golden Age of Hollywood out to dry. Babylon grossed less than $65 million on a budget of $80 million, costing Paramount anywhere between $80-100 million. There’s no sugar coating it: Babylon was a titanic bomb.
Audiences simply didn’t show up, and the film’s in-your-face and gross attitude rubbed a lot of casual viewers the wrong way. The first four minutes feature an ungodly amount of elephant poop, followed shortly by a rowdy party with plenty of sights that wouldn’t be out of place in Jordan Belfort’s office in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). You can make the argument that it pushed the boundaries of taste too much to the point that it pushed audiences away. Plus, thanks to its three-hour-plus runtime, it’s a beast of a movie to sit through, and audience members with short attention spans will probably bounce right off of Babylon.
Why Is ‘Babylon’ A Must-Watch Movie?
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Babylon, but despite it all, there’s simply nothing quite like it. To those who like it, they’ll call it one of the best movies of the 2020s. It’s a once-in-a-generation movie that takes big swings and leaves, and if you vibe with its chaotic energy, you’ll be obsessed with it.
The depiction of Hollywood in Babylon isn’t as polished and clean as movies that explore similar topics like Singin’ In The Rain (1952). It’s raw and doesn’t hold back. It wears its heart on its sleeve and is a movie with big emotions. Margot Robbie gives it her all as an actress desperate for any kind of fame, even if she goes down a dark path to do so, and it’s still one of her best roles in a career full of iconic performances. Babylon is a movie that forces you to feel feelings, whether that’s joy, disgust, or numbness, and you’ll stay invested just because you need to see how this wild ride ends.
And what an ending it is! It takes a while to get there, but the mixture of Justin Hurwitz’s jazz-filled score and a flurry of chaotic images shows just how powerful film as a medium can be. It stirs feelings in the viewers to the point where it can legitimately bring a tear to your eye as you reflect not only on the journey of the cast, but the journey movies have taken in the century since. Chazelle knows how to make a movie, and between the gorgeous cinematography, energetic music, and a commitment to excess, Babylon is a cult classic that film aficionados will look back on decades later and call it a under-appreciated masterpiece.
