Tasked with destroying each other, an FBI agent and a rogue DIA agent soon discover that there's a much bigger enemy at work.
The film has been called one of the worst movies ever made. At the box office, the film made $19.9 million on a $70 million budget. With a total of 116 reviews, the highest for a film with a 0% score, "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" is the worst reviewed film in the history of Rotten Tomatoes.
The first thing wrong, really, is the title. Not knowing who Ecks or Sever are, why do I care if they are versus each other? Just call the film "Ballistic" so it doesn't sound like a sequel to a movie nobody saw. I'm guessing some ticket sales were lost because of the misconception of it being a sequel.
Of course, that would not make it a better movie, but it would at least be less confusing.
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
2002
Action / Crime / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
2002
Action / Crime / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
Jonathan Ecks, an FBI agent, realizes that he must join with his lifelong enemy, Agent Sever, a rogue DIA agent with whom he is in mortal combat, in order to defeat a common enemy. That enemy has developed a "micro-device" that can be injected into victims in order to kill them at will.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
October 18, 2020 at 10:48 AM
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What the What?
" "I had no idea what was going on. I just showed up, did what they told me and that was it",
...says Lucy Liu about her role in this film. When one of your two leads is willing to say, on the record, that they haven't got a clue what the film in which they are starring is about or the motivation of their character is, you know you are in trouble.
Ultimately, this film's big sin is that it is so incoherent and completely lacking in motivation for the characters or backstory that it is boring. And cool slow motion flips through the air Matrix style and explosions - lots of them - are not going to change that. I have no idea what the background is between the two adversaries, no idea what makes the bad guy a villain, and no idea how they can spin this into a warm family drama, which they attempt to do at the end, I am just supposed to forget about all of those charred bodies left behind in Vancouver.
The director of this film goes by "Kaos". And somebody actually let him direct another film after this bomb. Granted, it was ten years later, but he got a second chance. I guess I could say to look at the video game of the same name for some guidance concerning the plot, but it is nothing like this film. Except for all of the loud noises, recommended as a substitute for Sominex.
Never mind the ballistics, here's the pathologist
When I say "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" was incredible, I don't mean that in a good way. All the main characters are current or former US federal agents, presumably to keep it interesting, but all the action takes places in Vancouver, BC, which, last time I looked, was not in the United States. The basic storyline was fairly straightforward (and rather hackneyed), but the motivations of the various characters were utterly incomprehensible. The film was somewhat on the short side, and I couldn't escape the feeling that the three scenes which might have tied together the loose ends inexplicably ended up on the cutting room floor. Banderas phoned in his performance (for God's sake, enunciate, man), and the musical score was just irritating. The only two things "Ballistic" had going for it were the presence of some rarely-seen hardware (fun for you firearms buffs) and some spectacular action sequences (though these were plagued by some annoying clichés, such as a protective vest preventing all injury to a character, and henchmen showing complete disregard for personal safety), and these were simply not enough to save this turkey. Avoid.