Babylon is one of the hits of the season. With humor, drama and an interesting plot, Babylon kept me entertained throughout the three-hour movie. The film features an exciting cast that includes Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Jean Smart. The plot chronicles the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood’s transition from silent to sound films in the late 1920s.

Babylon begins with an introduction to the character “Manny Torres,” who is played by Calva. Torres, a Mexican American aspiring actor who hopes to make it big in Hollywood, begins the movie by helping to transport an elephant to a drug-fueled party at a Kinescope exceutive’s mansion.

After transporting the elephant to the executive’s mansion, he is introduced to another aspiring actress “Nellie LaRoy” a self-declared movie star from New Jersey. Laroy, who is played by Robbie, is an ambitious, assertive and dedicated actress who, like Torres, hopes to make it big in a changing Hollywood movie industry. In addition to Torres and LaRoy, character Jack Conrad, who is played by Pitt, brings humor, excitement and constant entertainment throughout the movie. Conrad, a troubled and often drunk movie star, helps work with Torres and Laroy to secure roles at Kinescope, a movie production company that helps both their careers grow.

The development of Torres and Laroy from drug-addicted hopeful actors to successes in the movie industry further strengthens the plot. Director Damien Chazelle who also directed the movie “La La Land” is able to chronicle the rise and fall of the characters in Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound films in an excellent way giving all characters a meaningful story and role in the sequencing of the movie.

Junior Evan Geisner felt the movie was solid but not excellent. “I really liked the plot and I thought some of the characters were very entertaining. I thought some parts of the movie were very funny and some of the scenes were entertaining but I felt the movie was way too long and lost my interest at different points during the movie,” Geisner said.

Babylon, which is three hours and nine minutes, felt at points long but all and all very entertaining. The conclusion of the movie was a major strength however. It concluded with a reel of film clips giving the audience a run-through of the history of Hollywood films from the 1920s all the way until now, even showing a clip of the Avatar movie. The conclusion allowed me to better understand the development of film throughout time, which I felt was a great way to wrap up the movie and further summarize the themes about the rise and fall of film production in Hollywood.

I would rate it a four out of five stars and would highly recommend viewing before it leaves the theaters.