Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I knew the reviews said this was horrible but sometimes when you hear a film is really bad- you wanna check this out. So I rented it.And yes it is horrible! First of all - the plot is so stupid, but even average action films have decent plots.Second - the action scenes are simply mainly Antonio chasing Lucy Liu so it feels more like a cat and mouse game that doesn't end.Third - this would be way more appropriate for a video game that people just wanna shoot people and chase them - these things do not make a good movie! I honestly don't know what Lucy Liu in particular was thinking. As for Antonio, well I guess he had to do something to make his presence in Hollywood better so I guess I can't blame him..but come on you can do better than this garbage.Avoid at all costs!

With all of the harsh and negative criticisms of this film let's look at what is good... Sorry, my mind was still left on dumb because this movie has about as much intelligence as my 3 year old. But does it take a genius to realize the crew took the pay day and revealed their inner latex S&M fetish? Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu look terrific and are pure eye candy, as is the cinematography. If only more attention was spent on the script as the detail and focus on the rain drops, then we would talking about a genre definer. Gregg Henry still can chew a scene like it was Body Double again. Ray Park proves he can butcher an accent like anybody else can but at least he puts forth an effort to stretch the limitations of the script and make something unique. Best of all is the shoot out in the Mall which can be placed amongst any popcorn flick and excel, and that scene should actually be studied and broken down to the blue print because I wouldn't have minded 2 hours of that instead of a thing called PLOT intruding itself in this movie. To save yourself some headache, turn down the volume and put on your favorite techno music mix and watch the movie that way, trust me it still makes sense.

The acting of both Lucy Liu and Antonio Banderas is very low-key - same as you would expect from main roles in a Western; very simplistic and sparse, seemingly shallow were it not for the implicit references to shared knowledge, which the audience is only let in on through flash-backs or from other characters. This way of acting suits them both excellently, and creates an attractive ambient atmosphere, energized by their martial encounters and growing mutual sympathy.The bad guys (Gregg Henry as Gant and Ray Park as his right hand Ross) do not contribute a whole lot to this movie. Gant is the sinister/smug/self-absorbed crook which Gregg also embodied as Val Resnick in Payback, and Ross' vocabulary is annoyingly redundant, particularly his constant use of the euphemism 'cancel' (one might be inclined to blame this on the script, but more subtle acting could have pulled it off by not emphasizing 'cancel' each time).Perhaps what I like most about this movie is that Lucy has a major role. In her other movies she is mostly spice to the plot, although Lucky Number Slevin does allow her personality to surface. To me, Ballistic is the best Lucy-movie. She makes a very lovely femme fatale, even agonizingly crisp in a catsuit.Do not watch this movie if you consider lack of dialog synonymous with shallow acting, or if you are just not a fan of low-key acting. If, on the other hand, you enjoy good atmosphere in a movie, Ballistic may be one of those you want to return to from time to time.I give it a low 7, and would have gone higher if the feel of the movie were not occasionally fractured by the Gant and Ross characters.

This film could've been the Action blockbuster of the 2002 summer, but it's sloppy music video-style editing, stunts and very "oddball" script just ruined the idea of a successful film. Franchise Pictures should go out of business because they used the same money-making ploy on BATTLEFIELD EARTH ( don't get me talking about that film) where they had a convincing cast, a good-looking movie trailer, etc. and then the plot just has a couple of things go wrong and then the movie just gives up and goes downhill.You guys have probably already caught part of it on late-night cable, but didn't know what it was called and didn't care to after seeing such a weird movie. If this had been made in Hong Kong ( seeming how their action films always have huge plot holes, but yet no one complains about that ), then it would've had interesting characters and insane stunts, but that's just a dream. My problem was that the editing wasn't really good, there was an unnecessary sub-plot ( involving a "believed-to-be-dead" wife and son ) as well as too much odd humor/philosophy that you only see in these type of movies.Antonio Banderas ( who was in a similar, but way entertaining film known as "Assassins" ) and Lucy Liu ( "Kill Bill"; "Charlie's Angels" movies ) do good withwhat is given to them ( dialog, stunts, etc. ), but their characters will neverbe as memorable as other Asian characters like Inspector Tequila from "Hard-Boiled." And Lucy Liu isn't as physically durable as other Asian stars like Michelle Yeoh and all the fight scenes could have been choreographed by Yeun-Woo Ping ( "The Matrix" trilogy, etc. )Plus, the director Kaos is no John Woo. He over-uses the "slow-motion" effect to where it gets pretty old, real quickly. Directors Ridley and Tony Scott, Michael Bay, Antoine Fuqua, Robert Rodriguez and, even George Lucas, could have done a better job making the film flow along without it feeling repetitive like a video game ( which, ironically, this film film is loosely based on a little-known GameBoy game ).Also, whenever you use techno music, try not to have it play just randomly or take awhile to finish because that is just being lazy and sloppy. Kaos has it be in the back- ground during the fight scenes ( which are the only real highlight, but yet lack any real tension ), but has it change rapidly or way too instantly to where it's just unneeded.I'm being fair and honest when I say that I wasn't expecting anything new, but entertaining for 90 minutes; I even looked at all the bad reviews and laughed to myself because the critics act like they have never seen a film like this before ( Plus, nothing is worse then "Howard the Duck" ) and watched it on T.V. anyway. I wasn't expecting an "over-the-top"Jerry Bruckheimer and/or ultra-violent film. I just expected something decent.So watch this only if you like movies that have the usual clichés, have wooden characters/dialog and want a low-budget "Popcorn" film with pretty tight stunts.And why is this "Rated R"?? A thirteen-year old kid could handle this film 'no problem.'Also, the above 5/10 is just being generous because I think this might appeal to fans of music videos & this is far from the WORST movie out there.