Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
"There are no innocent people, you know that. Only killers or victims." - Gant
release year: 2002
genre: action
viewing setting: home DVD, 3/18/18 and 3/26/12 and 1/2/03
synopsis: Two skilled and deadly agents fight each other and some bad guys.
impressions: Lots of flash and bang. This is the perfect basic action movie: it has a simple plot (not enough to make you think much) and immense amounts of fighting, gunfire, and explosions. It's no epic (as evidenced by its reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where it's actually named the worst movie of all time, which is kind of harsh since it's not THAT bad) but it's entertaining enough for people who like to see destruction without having to wonder about details. Minor gripe: I could have done without the loud thrash music during every action scene. That's not style, it's stupidity.
principals:
Ecks: slumming ex-agent who lost his wife, gets in Sever's way
Sever: absolutely lethal lady assassin who's mad because Gant killed her family, gets in Ecks' way
Gant: evil agent boss, trying to recover a microchip
Ross: #1 henchman, skilled at martial arts
Vinn: Ecks' ex-wife and Gant's current wife, she thought Ecks was dead
Michael: Gant and Vinn's son who has the microchip imbedded in his arm, kidnapped by Sever
Julio: Ecks' buddy on the police force, which puts him in danger of being killed
acting: Antonio Banderas gives a flippantly I'm-too-cool-to-care-but-I'll-kick-your-ass-anyway performance. Lucy Liu gives a dead-serious show as a very dangerous assassin. The main villain was suitably slimy, and Ray Park is good as said villain's right-hand man.
final word: This is by-the-book action-movie mayhem, and worth seeing every once in a while.
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