Babylon 5: The River of Souls

One billion souls, ready to escape and wreak revenge upon their captors. Of course, they don't actually escape, at least not all of them. And they don't even scratch the Soulhunter (played fairly by Martin Sheen) until the very end, when he willingly sacrifices his soul to build a bridge to peace.

The special effects were nice, as always with Babylon 5, but the plot I thought was lacking. When the highlight of a film is seeing Tracy Scoggins in hot pink lingerie, you can't say much about the storyline.

I'm an admitted Babylon 5 fanatic, so I looked forward to seeing this film with some anticipation. And imagine my surprise when Martin Sheen waltzed into the screen! I thought he did a very good job. The film was pretty good - for some reason the films seem weaker than the series, most likely because they don't really fit into the web-like plot structure of the series.

Strong first half especially scenes on Soul Hunter's planet but plot involving Babylon 5 blowing up is routine. Holo brothel sup plot is unfortunate as is writer/creator Strazynski's dialogue. In particular, scene where characters are discussing the soul, the word "afterlife" should have been used instead of "Heaven." But worth watching for any Bab 5 fan.

Usually, JMS and his crew do a great job. There is no argument that Babylon 5 may have been the finest science fiction series ever to come to television. In this entry in the long series of good films, however, things become a little more slack, and the result is an uninvolving, mildly amusing detour. A Dumb subplot involving the fight with a virtual brothel does nothing to help this film; it is, in a sense, weighted down by the inability of the producers to add anything new into the Babylon 5 universe. Instead of generating a strong storyline, the creators have opted for a plot about a lost "river" of souls and the claimant who arrives unexpectedly to collect his stolen property. Martin Sheen as the alien "soul hunter" is one of the most ludicrous examples of miscasting since Tom Selleck as King Ferdinand in Christopher Columbus: The Discovery.

The Soul Hunter plot to this movie was excellent. That brothel sub plot was a little funny, but totally unnecessary. Martin Sheen gives an excellent performance. I also like how they make good use of Garabaldi. The special effects were great as usual. This an okay entry to the B5 story.