Review: Babylon is an unforgettable film, for better or worse

Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle returns to the director's chair with the long-gestating epic Babylon.

Due to his previous work, I was beyond excited for this movie. Whiplash might be my favourite movie of all time, I adore La La Land and First Man was pretty good.

Babylon returns Chazelle to one of his favourite subjects, the golden age of Hollywood. We follow three leads who navigate the transition from silent films to 'talkies'.

Nellie LaRoy played by Margot Robbie is an aspiring actress who quickly rises to become one of Hollywood's 'it' at the tail end of the silent film-era who struggles to make the transition, instead turning to drugs, gambling and all around debauchery.

Her love interest, Manny, played by Diego Calva starts off as a lowly assistant before rising through the ranks of Hollywood as he adapts to changes in the industry.

Then you have Brad Pitt's Jack Conrad, one of the biggest stars in the silent film world who is... ya know, also in the film.

After making waves with his first few films, Chazelle was finally afforded the rare opportunity to take an original story, give at an R rating, a runtime in excess of three hours, and fill it with some of the biggest stars in the world.

It's a cinematic experience that will have people talking for years to come and we may never see a film like this again.

But it's missing a key component.

It's... not good.

Babylon is a bloated mess of a film. I sat in the cinema just begging to connect with something in it, but it never came.

For the most part it feels aimless, the film is a series of stories of people getting chewed up and spat out by Hollywood. Some of these little tableaus are great, some absolutely do not land. Unfortunately the great ones get lost in a sea of mess. Sometimes quite literal mess.

It's a commentary on the excess of Hollywood told in one of the most excessive films I've ever seen.

I didn't hate everything about it, the acting is phenomenal. Margot Robbie gives the performance of her already impressive career. The cinematography is kinetic and exciting and complimented by a fast paced edit.

Basically I would nominate this film for every Academy Award except Best Picture.

I've noticed the discourse around the film online since the US release has become very divided. This seems to be the latest "you either like it or you didn't get it" film. Or the film that if you dislike it you hate originality in Hollywood.

The most frustrating thing about Babylon is that I have critics and friends whose opinions I trust who adored this film. I wish I was on board with it, I really do.

One of my favourite things about Chazelle's previous films is the endings. The man absolutely knows how to end a film. Every time I watch Whiplash I realise I've forgotten to breathe for the last 15 minutes of the film.

Babylon's ending on the other hand... Babylon's ending made me wonder if I even like movies. But for you, you might be transported and appreciate cinema as a deeper art form.

Whether you agree with me or not, you will want to talk about Babylon after seeing it and you will be thinking about it for days.