Before "Babylon A.D." was even released, Director Mathieu Kassovitz ("Gothika") complained that the studio (20th Century Fox) had ruined his film.

Hint: That's generally a sign that you shouldn't waste your money.

While it's entirely possible that a meddling studio, in its effort to get a quick (90 minutes) running time and a PG-13 rating, hacked "Babylon A.D." to bits, it's also impossible to imagine that even the longest director's cut DVD version could make the film significantly more coherent or entertaining.

There's enough blame to go around for everybody.

"Babylon A.D." is set in some kind of post-apocalyptic earth of the near future, though there are still 22 million people living in New York, so it couldn't have been too bad.

Vin Diesel stars as Toorop, a tough mercenary who is enlisted to bring a mysterious young girl from Serbia to New York. Pouty French newcomer Melanie Thierry is the girl, Aurora, who carries a possibly world-altering secret inside her. A sadly misused Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") is Sister Rebeka, her butt-kicking nun protector.

The trio bounces joltingly from one unconnected scene to another with little or no segue -- the movie seems to have been spliced together in a sixth-grade AV lab. Unfortunately, the action scenes are mediocre and the fights are mostly a collection of quick cuts that don't let you follow the action clearly.

There is a plot of some sort, but it's so confusing and nonsensical -- maybe it could have been explained in an eight-hour miniseries -- that you won't understand it. It's hard to tell one faction from another as they battle over Aurora, and when the film finally reveals its big secret, it's more unintentionally (I think) funny than shocking or interesting.

Diesel lends his trademark gravelly voice to the process and little else, though it's hard to fault him, given the script. Thierry isn't bad but doesn't show any ability to elevate the material either.

Other than selling tickets on a wide open Labor Day weekend, "Babylon A.D." seems to have limited goals -- aiming to be a poor man's version of "Fifth Element." It fails quite miserably.

Rental Recommendation: Diesel was at his brooding best in the dark sci-fi thriller "Pitch Black." Grade: B