Review of:Ballistic (2002)
Director:Wych "Kaos" Kaosayananda
Rating:R for (for strong violence)
Starring:Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Ray Park, Terry Chen, Aidan Drummond
Official Site
Director Wych Kaosayananda (director of 'Fah') better known as Kaos brings his sense of style from Thailand to the American market. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever begins as a classic story of two characters that are pushed to their limits to accomplish a goal very personal to both of them, and ends up morphing into a film that lost its soul at the front door. I have always felt that the best stories are the kind where someone rises up, and fights incredible odds to succeed. A great example of this kind of film would be the first Rocky films, especially I &II. The film is built along the same lines although it doesn't have the heart of the mentioned films.
Starring as the villain in the film is Robert Gant (played by Greg Henry of Payback fame) the man who has something to lose, and everything to gain in the ensuing melee. What he has to lose is an ingenious new assassination device. A device that is microscopic in size and injectable, lying inside its victim unnoticed until it is triggered leaving no trace of its existence. It is the perfect weapon being both undetectable, and controllable. He is integral to the development of all the storylines, and the stories end up tying up to him and his criminal organization. Playing as his henchman is Agent Ross (Ray Park of Star Wars: Episode 1 fame). With some of his credits including many very real martial arts skills he is not used enough in the film. You might not recognize him but he is the face behind the mask of Darth Maul.
In this film Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas) is brought back from a self inflicted FBI retirement to pursue a lead on the women who he thinks holds the key to the whereabouts of his wife. He had thought his wife killed many years ago by an unknown assailant. The women who he thinks holds the answers to his questions is a agent known only by the code name of Sever (Lucy Liu). With a name like Sever you need to carry a big stick, and Lucy Liu does her best imitation of an uncaring, butt-kicking assassin. Sever has been trained to be the perfect weapon, and she is relentless in her goal of making her former employer pay for past injustices. It seems like the makings of a good movie right? Wrong. The movie with two stars of some action repute (Lucy Liu with Charlie's Angels and Banderas with Desperado) never gets the flow of the story going.
The twists and turns that are injected into the movie seem almost too noticeable like a story you already know the ending to. The strings that are the storyline are as noticeable as a marionette puppet during the noon hour. How does a former FBI agent (Ecks) not know that someone he cared about is still alive? They try to explain it convincingly but from jump street the reasoning doesn't work. Where the film really seems to fail is in its action sequences. In today's market with movies of such high quality as Crouching Tiger or Matrix you really have to bring something new to the table so that the action won't seem blasé. The film also fails to get any connection between audience and character. I found myself understanding what the characters were going through on screen, but not really caring if they succeeded in their missions. That is the main ingredient that is needed when making a film of this type. Without that ingredient the actual finished product is bland to the taste.
With all that said the film is not actually bad, it just rates as average. If you must see some fighting action or just want to see the lovely Lucy Liu it could be a film that you could palate. Just don't expect it to sizzle.
