A tale of two endings

Over all, Babylon A.D. struck me as very similar to Children of Men, except bigger, dumber, and less dramatically intense. As I said to Luke, it seemed as though the makers of the movie ran out of money and couldn't afford more story at the end. Either that or they decided it wasn't worth trying to tie together the loose ends of their half-assed ideas. Definitely one of those movies where the credits roll and you think, "Um ... what?!" Still, we went into it thinking it might be a mess, so we weren't disappointed. Cool smart-paper map at one point, too.

Later I watched the Criterion DVD of The Third Man. What a beautiful, dark, atmospheric look that movie has! The world in a postwar shambles. And speaking of endings, the ending of The Third Man is utterly and poetically perfect. This is how you do an open-ended resolution, which is the finest, toughest ending of all. (See also PK Dick's novel, Ubik.) The struggle continues. There are no final answers. Agnosis.