Common Sense Media Review
This explosion movie is a complete bomb.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Server
What's the Story?
In BALLISTIC, ex-secret agent Sever (Lucy Lui) seeks revenge on the people responsible for her son's death. Her quest to destroy Gant and his team grows more urgent when she learns they have a diabolical weapon. Meanwhile, the FBI calls in former agent Ecks (Antonio Banderas) to track down Gant. Ecks can't refuse the mission – if he's successful, he'll be reunited with his wife, who he thought was dead. Sever and Ecks cross paths, at first as adversaries -- but eventually they unite in trying to take down Gant.
Is It Any Good?
Ballistic is mostly about shooting and hitting, an endless barrage of bullets and bazookas to a point that is way past mindless fun and on the brink of being pornographic. It's more video game than movie, though video games have more interesting characters. Dialogue is sparse and idiotic, a mix of re pretentious fake-clever, pretentious fake-tough, and fake-meaningful.
There are endless shots of Lucy Liu shooting huge guns in slow motion, with her hair artistically flowing, plus even more of the usual magically bullet-proof characters who constantly run into gunfire without getting hit but manage to hit the other side every time they fire. It even has the unfathomably stupid clichh of the adversaries stopping in mid-battle to drop all of their hardware on the ground so that they can have a "fair fight."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether a movie is good just because it has explosions and action scenes. Are some action movies better than this one, and if so, why? Did you connect with either of the main characters, and if not, did you care? Does strong character development draw you more into a story?
Movie Details
- In theaters : September 20, 2002
- On DVD or streaming : December 24, 2002
- Cast : Antonio Banderas , Gregg Henry , Lucy Liu
- Director : Wych Kaosayananda
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Warner Bros.
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- Run time : 91 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : strong violence.
- Last updated : March 14, 2020
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate