Tasked with destroying each other, an FBI agent and a rogue DIA agent soon discover that a much bigger enemy is at work.Tasked with destroying each other, an FBI agent and a rogue DIA agent soon discover that a much bigger enemy is at work.Tasked with destroying each other, an FBI agent and a rogue DIA agent soon discover that a much bigger enemy is at work.
- Awards
- 5 nominations
Roger Cross
- Zane
- (as Roger R. Cross)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film grossed less than 30% of its budget at the box office, making it one of the biggest box-office failures in film history.
- GoofsEcks lets the BMW bike fall when he stops in front of the car. It's standing upright in the next shot.
- SoundtracksThe Name Of The Game
Performed by The Crystal Method
Composed by Ken Jordan (as K. Jordan), Scott Kirkland (as S. Kirkland),
Tom Morello (as T. Morello)
Published by EMI Virgin Music, Harder Faster Music, EMI Virgin Songs, Inc., Drug Money Music and LBV Songs
Courtesy of Geffen Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
(P) 2001 Outpost Recordings
Featured review
`Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever' has been saddled with not only one of the worst movie titles in recent memory, but one of the worst screenplays as well. The film's third-rate espionage plot makes no sense at all and serves basically as a lame excuse for endless explosions, shootouts and double-flipping car chases, which have become the standard accoutrements for virtually every action picture since `Bullitt' in 1968.
The problem with `Ballistic' is that the viewer can never tell who is doing what to whom or why and we never care. The film is really all about style anyway. How else to account for the rather ludicrous image of Lucy Liu - looking more like a fashion model out on a shoot than a trained killer doing the shooting herself - strolling in elegant slow motion through the streets of Vancouver, wiping out what seems to be an entire hit squad with a combination of superhuman marksmanship and Matrix-like kickboxing moves? With her ankle-length designer coat and her icy-cool demeanor, she looks like Calvin Klein's idea of what the well-dressed assassin should be wearing this season. It's enough to reduce the whole enterprise to the level of comic absurdity and, indeed, I often found myself laughing out loud at many of the ostensibly serious shenanigans occurring in the film. The flashbacks, which are obviously intended to clarify the characters' relationships, are so poorly done that they actually end up making the whole story more muddled and confusing. (And, although the child-kidnapping scenario is never as offensive in this film as it is in `Trapped,' one can still question the propriety of filmmakers running to this theme with the kind of frequency they seem to have been doing of late).
Antonio Banderas makes up the other half of the film's title (he is Ecks, she Sever), and one only wonders what he could have been thinking about when he signed on to co-star in this particular project. `Ballistic' is utterly dispensable moviemaking: here today, forgotten tomorrow, a film utterly without distinction, conviction or purpose.
The problem with `Ballistic' is that the viewer can never tell who is doing what to whom or why and we never care. The film is really all about style anyway. How else to account for the rather ludicrous image of Lucy Liu - looking more like a fashion model out on a shoot than a trained killer doing the shooting herself - strolling in elegant slow motion through the streets of Vancouver, wiping out what seems to be an entire hit squad with a combination of superhuman marksmanship and Matrix-like kickboxing moves? With her ankle-length designer coat and her icy-cool demeanor, she looks like Calvin Klein's idea of what the well-dressed assassin should be wearing this season. It's enough to reduce the whole enterprise to the level of comic absurdity and, indeed, I often found myself laughing out loud at many of the ostensibly serious shenanigans occurring in the film. The flashbacks, which are obviously intended to clarify the characters' relationships, are so poorly done that they actually end up making the whole story more muddled and confusing. (And, although the child-kidnapping scenario is never as offensive in this film as it is in `Trapped,' one can still question the propriety of filmmakers running to this theme with the kind of frequency they seem to have been doing of late).
Antonio Banderas makes up the other half of the film's title (he is Ecks, she Sever), and one only wonders what he could have been thinking about when he signed on to co-star in this particular project. `Ballistic' is utterly dispensable moviemaking: here today, forgotten tomorrow, a film utterly without distinction, conviction or purpose.
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Ecks vs. Sever
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $70,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,307,963
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,010,474
- Sep 22, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $20,154,899
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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