In addition to sporting one of the worst titles in recent cinematic history, "Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever" also features terrible, banal dialogue; convenient, hole-ridden plotting; superficial characters and a rather dull, unimaginative car chase.
Yet this action-thriller presents something of a dilemma because it's one of the few recent examples of this genre that doesn't use high-wire effects, handheld camera work and quick-cut editing — all of which have become not only clichd, but have made similar films a chore just to sit through.
Still, in spite of its more traditional storytelling techniques — if such a term can really be used in this instance — other problems with the film ensure that it remains nothing more than, at best, a guilty pleasure. (To offer a cinematic barometer, it's more akin to "xXx" than it is to "The Bourne Identity.")
The "Ecks" in the title is Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas), a retired FBI manhunter who is blackmailed into trailing a rogue U.S. government agent known simply as Sever (Lucy Liu). She has kidnapped the son of govern-
mental higher-up Robert Gant (veteran heavy Gregg Henry) for reasons that are known only to the two of them (it has something to do with an assassination device). Meanwhile, Gant is not exactly standing still. In fact, he's sent his men to eliminate both Ecks and Sever.
It's not really worth getting any deeper into the plot; suffice it to say that story just gets more and more ludicrous, leading to action scenes that are more laugh-inducing than thrilling (the continual use of slo-mo certainly doesn't help).
Actingwise, the leads don't seem all that motivated; their performances are surprisingly wooden. But they do bring a certain level of needed physicality, especially Liu.
"Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever" is rated R for strong action violence (hand-to-hand and martial-arts combat, gunplay and explosive mayhem), scattered use of profanity, brief gore and brief drug use (amphetamines). Running time: 91 minutes.
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