The latest movie from director Damien Chazelle, Babylon, comes after his wildly popular La La Land. Despite a talented ensemble cast and a lengthy running duration of more than three hours, Babylon fails to live up to expectations. Although the movie is unvarnished and sincere, it ultimately comes off as manipulative. Some situations could feel controversial, causing viewers to wonder whether they were added on purpose or were just a natural part of the story. Hollywood has a history of producing blockbuster films about the industry, including Sunset Boulevard, The Artist, Barton Fink, and The Player. 'Babylon' deviates from this convention and attempts to depict the ugly reality of the industry, leading to a film that isn't entirely fulfilling. The movie as a whole is unimpressive and lacks the charm that was there in La La Land and Whiplash, even though some individual performances and situations are outstanding.

Viewers may find Babylon to contain certain visually unpleasant elements that are unsettling, and the movie occasionally blurs the boundary between sane and insanity on purpose, which can be perplexing. Particularly undeveloped is Margot Robbie's character, who eventually succumbs to drug addiction and has any sense of purpose in life. The absence of character development for the cast makes some of their behaviours seem unrelated to the plot. The turbulent life of Brad Pitt's character, which includes being shot by an ex-wife who discovers him cheating, portrays the high drama of those era's legendary actors in Hollywood. These aspects, however, are insufficient to make up for the lack of character development and general cohesion in the movie.

Manny Torres (Diego Calva) is trying to bring an elephant to a Hollywood party that a Mughal producer is throwing at the beginning of the movie. Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), an aspiring actress hoping for a break in the business, notices him at the party. Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), a significant figure in silent films, is also present at the gathering. The tone of the movie and what viewers might anticipate from the story of the golden age of Hollywood are set in this particular moment. Many characters find it difficult to adapt as the film business switches from silent pictures to talkies. While Manny successfully makes a change and eventually becomes a director, Nellie and Conrad struggle to adapt to the new environment.

The dramatic portrayal of Hollywood's important transition from the silent to sound eras highlights how the industry and its players were affected. In the wake of this transformation, Brad Pitt's character in particular experiences a downward spiral of self-destruction. As witnessed in the moment where Margot Robbie's character almost avoids death from a snake before being saved by a Chinese artist who subsequently becomes her lover, the movie also touches on topics of censorship and social mores. The movie makes observations about the industry's struggles to strike a balance between its liberal and hedonistic ideals and the growing pressure from social censorship. In the end, Babylon implies that while life in movies is pointless and unpleasant, what is recorded on film survives for all time. Although the film's main message is powerful, the way it was presented could have been more orderly.