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Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever Starring Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu Directed by Wych Kaosayananda Rated R for strong violence **1/4 out of 4 Stars, Movie Grade: C

Released September 20, 2002

Running time: 91 minutes

by Kevin Lang

Given the title and somewhat promising action packed preview, I was hoping for more from "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever," directed by Wych Kaosayananda. Instead, what we got was a movie filled with hit and miss action sequences, an ultra cool Lucy Liu, and a story that failed to captivate us nearly as much as it should have due to a lack of overall coherency and plot development.

Perhaps what bothered me most was that many of the fight sequences in the film were hampered by close up shots that prevented us from seeing the moves entirely. This problem arises often with martial arts sequences in movies. The filmmakers attempt to make the sequence seem more appealing by letting us see less; sort of a less is more attitude. This is often to make up for poorly fight trained actors and underdeveloped, sub par fight choreography. I wanted to see the hits and hear their impact more. I wanted to see the film to live up to its title.

The preview led us to believe that the plot revolved around a new assassination device that could be injected into the bloodstream and it in turn, at the press of a button, could inject lethal poison into the blood. This microscopic device could have heightened the suspense and played a much more pivotal role in the film than it did. Instead, the story centered itself on Antonio Banderas' character's attempt to find his girlfriend who for years he thought was dead. Battling Sever (Lucy Liu) to discover the whereabouts of his girlfriend, the two eventually joined forces after they realized that they were both ultimately after the same person, an ex-agent who was seeking the deadly device that had been implanted in Ecks' son. Ultimately, the story failed to draw us in as we were left waiting to be entwined in suspense that never came.

"Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" provided an abundance of mediocre, semi-entertaining action sequences that were surrounded by a story that needed much more setup and development for us to become fully involved in the actions and emotions of its characters. For a movie so filled with action, "Ballistic" didn't leave much of an impact.

"Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" Review written September 20, 2002, CTF.