Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999)

The Age of Commercialism

Really Surprised!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Many seem to consider this the best of the movies. Even the creators themselves. I'm not really sure why.First of all, the music is horrible. Saying that may sound harsh, but then so does the movie. Music can make or break a movie, and here it almost manages to break it. It's plain bad. "The Gathering" had a similar problem with music. It's not even just that it's not Franke making the music, it's bad in both of the titles regardless of what you compare it to.Second, the plot doesn't seem that strong. Invasion of Earth with leftover shadow tech? Plausible, but not exactly groundbreaking. The whole thing is, overall, quite uneventful in its predictability. But that's not the worst point. I actually can't even say for certain what is, but overall the whole feel is slightly off (same goes for the whole short-lived Crusade series that followed this, actually). Also the new characters don't really have enough time to "grow" on you, and you don't have that many of the old B5 cast around, even though the performance of the few that are there is decent. I'd personally certainly rate this the weakest of the B5 movies, even though it still is decent. But I'd rate it more along the lines of some of the weakest B5 series episodes.Overall I'd probably give it a seven, if not for the atrocious music - considering that, it's a 6+. By comparison, In the Beginning would be 8,5, Thirdspace and River of Souls would be 8, and The Gathering 7.

Of all the movies "A call to Arms" is my favourite, "In the beginning" makes a wonderful prequel but generally only the very big fans of the show will really appreciate all the parts of the film. "A call to Arms" manages not only to please big fans of the show by featuring a very big event in the B5 universe, but also make a stunning stand-alone movie that anyone could enjoy.I thought Dobro and Woodward were absolutely excellent as Dureen and Galen, characters I am certainly looking forward to seeing more of in JMS's crusade.The music is...well, pretty bad on first listening. But eventually you'll get used to it and it does give the film a unique and different feeling to the rest of the B5 series. This is definetly the movie to watch if you want to watch one of the films to get into the series.

"A Call to Arms" is a pretty good movie. Sorry that sounds kind of blah, but it's true. Entertaining, but not epic. Guess I kinda got spoiled on "In the Beginning", a vastly more thought-provoking and involving movie than this. But, I have to agree with a previous reviewer...the music was abysmal. This "The Fifth Element"-esque dribble almost literally caused pain to my ears. The music should complement and enhance the program, not distract from it, as this did. I sincerely hope the upcoming series pays attention to what works: a classical piece of some kind...something kind of dark and gloomy, since, after-all, the premise of the series is the death of mankind, with an uplifting fanfare for victories achieved by the crew. Then again, Hanson vocals would have been better than what was chosen. Change the music, and I'll watch as a devoted fan.

Well this rates as one of my favorite B5 movies second only to In the Beginning. The movie does a fine job of setting up for the Crusade series. The scenes of Earth being attacked by the Drakh, and the Omega class destroyers along with the 2 ISA destroyer prototypes defending it is staggering. A must see if you are a B5 fan. Omega class destroyer fans will like this one.