BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER
In this thundering espionage thriller gone awry, likable stars Antonio Banderas
(Spy Kids) and Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels) sell out to sling guns
and grunt in a language once reserved for sacks of muscle named Stallone and
Schwarzenegger. The two begin as rival operatives, but as the cockamamie tale
unfolds, they wind up on the same side of the bullet spray.
Banderas's Ecks is a former FBI manhunter pressed back into service when he's
told that his wife, who was presumed dead, may still be alive. Part of his task
is to track a top-secret assassination device that's in the possession of Liu's
Sever, a rogue DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) commando. Ultimately the plot
becomes so convoluted that it pits various US intelligence agencies, head to
head with blazing guns, in the middle of downtown Vancouver! To numb your mind
to such nonsense, director Kaos (a Thai filmmaker whose real name is Wych
Kaosayananda) will indulge in yet another splash of explosions or a slow-motion
sequence of Liu gracefully kicking the crap out of a SWAT team. It's a deluge
of bullets and chop-socky madness devoid of style or purpose. At the Apple
Valley, Campus, Entertainment, Flagship, Holiday, Providence Place Mall 16,
Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.
Issue Date: September 27 - October 3, 2002
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