Ballistic

“Ballsitic: Ecks vs. Sever which was released in 2002 comes under the direction of Wych Kaosayananda. The leading roles are Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu.”

Synopsis

The focus of the film is on FBI agent Jeremiah Ecks (Banderas) and renegade DIA officer Sever (Liu), who, at first, are pitted against one another, only to join forces later due to an unforeseen circumstance. As the story develops, they learn of a larger scheme that holds the dangerous micro-robot which can induce lethal strokes and therefore fight back their enemy together.

Cast & Crew

  • Director: Wych Kaosayananda (credited as Kaos)
  • Writer: Alan B. McElroy
  • Cast:
    • Antonio Banderas as Jeremiah Ecks
    • Lucy Liu as Agent Sever
    • Gregg Henry as Robert Gant
    • Ray Park as Agent A.J. Ross
    • Talisa Soto as Rayne Gant

IMDb Ratings

The film holds an IMDb rating of 3.7 out of 10, reflecting generally unfavorable reviews.

Critical Reception

Critics did not have anything good to say about “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” and even called the film one of the worst in cinema history. The film was a flop and only made $20.2 million at the box office against a production cost of $70 million. It is the most reviewed film on rotten tomatoes which has a 0% positive rating, with an astounding number of 119 reviews in total.

Personal Insights

Although there is no contest that “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever” is an action movie with a star-studded cast and an enormous production budget, it was still a failure to audiences and critics alike. The film’s “story” had too many twists and turns and the characters were not developed enough to make the action sequences worthwhile, thus contributing to the appalling reception of the film.

Cultural Significance

The film is frequently mentioned in respect of how high budget action movies were made in a manner that too many rockets blared while the narrative took a backseat. It hones in on the film’s shortcoming as a useful example of how crucial storytelling and character involvement should be in the cinema.

For those interested in experiencing the film firsthand, it is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.