Cast: Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Talisa Soto, Ray Park, Miguel Sandoval
Director: Kaos
Producers: Chris Lee, Elie Samaha, Kaos
Screenplay: Peter M. Lenkov, Alan McElroy
Cinematography: Julio Macat
Music: Don Davis
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers
Action films are supposed to be fun – undemanding, unpretentious entertainment. The experience of watching one should be akin to imbibing an adrenaline and testosterone cocktail. Despite having as many explosions, shoot-outs, and martial arts-enhanced fight scenes as any of its rivals, Ballistic has missed the point. This grim, joyless motion picture is anything but fun. It’s a chore to sit through, with all the blazing, noisy pyrotechnics proving unable to lighten the mood.
The limited plot represents little more than an excuse for director Kaos (real name: Wych Kaosayananda – not hard to understand why he shortened it) to blow up things. Lots of things. Why rip apart one empty train car when you can do it to ten? Why settle for a few flames, when you can have a raging inferno? Why go for a little blast when you can get a full-blown mushroom cloud?
Antonio Banderas plays Jeremiah Ecks, an ex-FBI agent in bad need of a shave and a haircut. He spends his days and nights drinking and being surly to anyone who comes near him. It seems that he lost his wife (Talisa Soto) in an explosion (what else?) seven years ago, and he hasn’t gotten over it. Along comes his old boss, Julio Martin (Miguel Sandoval), with unexpected news – the wife isn’t really dead. She has a new identity and is married to the powerful and wealthy Robert Gant (Gregg Henry), who is in the process of trying to smuggle an electronic assassination device (it can be injected under the skin and cause a heart attack when activated by remote) into Vancouver. Ecks’ decision to pursue his wife puts him on the hit list of a current DIA agent, Ross (Ray Park, sans Darth Maul makeup), and in conflict with a former agent, Sever (Lucy Liu), who is out to kill Gant.
There isn’t much in the way of an “Ecks vs. Sever” battle, as the film’s subtitle bamboozles viewers into believing. In fact, after an initial confrontation, these two end up working side-by-side, since their objectives are virtually the same: stop Gant and rescue a child he is using as a mule for his electronic assassination device. For most of the film, it’s Ecks and/or Sever against a bunch of nameless, faceless henchmen – except near the end, when they have to finish off the two Big Bad Guys – Ross and Gant.
The film’s downbeat storyline – about a mother seeking revenge for a slain child – is matched by its bleak down and dreary setting (nearly every scene takes place at night, in the rain, or both). Lucy Liu gives a credible performance as an emotionless killer whose icy exterior is barely concealing a cauldron of rage, but she goes through the entire film without once smiling. Virtually the same can be said of Antonio Banderas, whose sunny grin is equally absent. As for comic relief – does a single witty one-liner count? At least there are some nice visuals – it’s impressive seeing Liu and Banderas acting cool while backlit by an inferno.
If your sole reason for seeing a thriller is to watch pretty explosions, people dodging a hail of bullets, and a few spicy martial arts struggles that feature more high kicks than high camp, then you’ll probably be satisfied by Ballistic. In fact, the movie is so absorbed with keeping the action quotient high that it rarely pauses for more than a few minutes to provide the exposition necessary to advance the plot (which may be why there are times when the details become confused). Sadly, the only thing missing is the fun. A lot of people die in violent action movies, but sitting through one shouldn’t feel like attending a funeral.
© 2002 James Berardinelli