The director interweaves his stories like a symphonic composer, teasing out suspense here, adding foreboding there, bringing in a surge of crushing pathos, but then providing a blessed note of hope and reconciliation.

Individually, the stories are beautifully shot, intimately acted and usually engrossing. full review

An extension and expansion of 21 Grams in every way, and this time proves too much of a mystical thing. full review

It's a great film made with style and heart and hope, a cautionary parable and an almost certain Oscar contender. full review

[Inarritu] remains as entranced as ever by fate, loss and the interconnectedness of humankind, and I admire him for it. But Babel isn't the last or best word on that subject. It's just a lot of talk. full review

True to its title, Babel hinges on missed and faulty communications of both the personal and the cultural variety. It's a sweeping movie about characters who often suffer from tunnel vision.

Babel is the masterful third installment in this trilogy of truth and consequence. full review

As each story comes to its conclusion, some characters rise above, while others are crushed under the weight of the day's events. The tales are equal parts miracle and tragedy. And that's often what life is, which makes Babel ring true. full review

One of the most challenging and saddest movies of the year -- and also one of the most memorable. full review

[Babel] is, in short, one of the year's best movies.

Something of a one-note film, albeit a beautifully played note. full review

Good intentions don't always make good movies. And this one simply wasn't worth their effort. full review

For a movie that insists on the truth of humanity's mutual dependency, Babel feels disconnected from anything but its own artistic determinism. full review

Babel is supposed to be a cry of humanist anguish that echoes -- in four languages -- around the world. Why does it feel as much like an elaborate game of middlebrow post-millennial Clue? full review

In the end, a film of profound ambition is unmasked as one without real purpose, a misguided attempt to make a serious, important statement despite having nothing, really, to say. full review

I was shaken, but not stirred.

The filmmakers don't seem to understand or care much about many of these people, but they use them to unload ideas about violence, communication, and tribal misunderstandings -- trading on suffering as they aim for cosmic wisdom. full review