Ballistica doesn't look too bad and Robert Davi is calmly intense, but that is all that Ballistica has going for it. The action is more silly than tense, more dull than exciting and lumbering rather than slick. The direction lacks any kind of life, and the script and story are not much better. The script is as flat as the flabbiest pancake and instead of being sharp-witted or smart it is very awkward-sounding and is so cheesy that it will cause unintentional laughter. The story is just as flabby and contains no sense of surprise or tension whatsoever. It also tries at times to do too many things(action and political thriller for examples) fails at all. Of the acting, Davi is the only one who gives a performance that is halfway decent. Paul Logan has the looks for an action-hero but not the charisma, throughout he is very wooden and often too overly-serious. Overall, in almost every area Ballistica is done very poorly. 2/10 Bethany Cox
7 Reviews
Nonsense low budget actioner
Leofwine_draca30 July 2017
Warning: Spoilers
BALLISTICA is a very cheap and very cheesy action movie shot in Los Angeles. It's an indie production that certainly wishes it had a bigger budget, because what we get here just isn't up to the job. The film's plot is predictable and copied from previous Hollywood thrillers, while the frequent action sequences are laughably choreographed. The wooden acting of the lead, Paul Logan, doesn't help much either; he certainly has the physique for the role but in terms of acting he's a block of wood. The supporting cast includes three familiar faces, including Andrew Divoff (WISHMASTER) as a heavy, and two faces from '80s classics: Martin Kove, of THE KARATE KID fame, and Robert Davi from LICENCE TO KILL. The latter two produced this movie as well, and it's sad to see them having fallen on hard times in this way.
Trite dumbness
dwarven_tavern13 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
If this movie were any more cliché it would be a cliché for others of its kind. "Man, that movie was ballistica". "Really? I didn't think it was THAT bad." The fight scenes were unnecessary, only to show off the ~incredible~ (gag) fighting prowess of the "Gary Stu" (which is an incredibly generic, stereotypical character in a work of fiction) main character. The writing is abysmal, the directing is infantile, and the acting only reflects the poor directing, which means shallow, lifeless, and flat. There need be no spoilers because this movie is so entirely predictable the first five minutes is itself a spoiler. The movie is spoiled upon takeoff. I highly recommend this movie as a lesson to burgeoning filmmakers as an exercise in exactly how NOT to make a movie unless you want to make a quick buck thirty five in profit then get the heck out of Dodge with the cold hard change in hand.
Some silly moments, but quite good action and story.
suissenavy3 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Just got done watching this and I have to say that I did enjoy it. The only real thing that bothered me was the hand gun hand combat. It was well filmed but utterly impossible. Trust me, dodging one bullet would be hard to believe, try about 25, at close range and your truly in the land of fantasy. The story unfolds very well, and a great twist at the end is well timed and from out of nowhere. This film is most certainly a Federal funded one, all the talk about the good C.I.A. and bad terrorists and a reference to 9\11 truly got a giggle from me. The last fight is a good one, and I was wondering what was gonna happen, the last move is absolutely against several laws, physics and gravity to name a few, good taste may also fit in the list. There are some familiar faces throughout like that bad guy from Karate Kid, you know the teacher at the dojo. You should enjoy this film if you like action spy films. You can also say that acting in this film is like Ben Kinsley in Gandhi, but then you would be completely wrong and probably insane.
Luckily, this is fun dumb, so you can easily have fun watching Ballistica.
tarbosh220003 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
When the dastardly terrorist group Hand of Truth and its leader Dragomir (Divoff) threaten to blow up many people with something called a micro-pulse bomb, CIA director Riley (Kove) unleashes the ultimate weapon on the baddies: Damian Sloan (Logan). A meatheaded CIA agent with an attitude, Sloan has at least one particular trick up his sleeve that will render evildoers of the world useless...can you guess what it is? Sloan teams up with token female scientist Alexa (Spencer), but Riley is continually being kept in check by the mysterious Macarthur (Davi). After getting into a bunch of underlit fights, chases and scrapes, loyalties turn, and allegiances change, but Sloan stays overly serious throughout it all. Will Sloan - or the terrorists - finally go Ballistic(a) on us all? Find out today! Ballistica is at least three things: 1. A supremely silly action escapade 2. The name of a Martial Arts style that incorporates guns into the physical movements that doesn't look completely ridiculous at all and is taught by the inimitable Paul Logan 3. A concept that exists throughout time and space and that lives on in all of our hearts. If the movie had come out in '87, it would have gone to the theater. If it had come out in '94, it would have gone to video stores. In both instances, it may have found an audience. But in 2009, the era of chintzy green screen, grade-school CGI, back-projection car chases, and filming stuff in the dark so you can perhaps cover up some flaws, it's hard to imagine anyone out there hearing of this movie, renting it our buying it, then nodding approvingly as they watch it. It's quite hard not to laugh at the scenes of Ballistica, however (among other unintentionally funny moments), so this could be a movie you can round up some friends for and watch together and have some laffs.
So, just to reiterate, Ballistica is a thing. And who better to introduce it to the world than a man named Paul Logan (not to be confused with Crocodile Dundee himself, Paul Hogan). We all remember Logan from The Ultimate Game (2001), right?...right? He looks like a 'roided-up Jerry O'Connell, has the charisma of a piece of shrimp toast, and also looks like a 'roided-up Jason Bateman. He deals with his emotional pain by remaining shirtless as much as possible. You've heard of a therapy dog? Well he doesn't have a therapy shirt. He might be our new favorite human being. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of Logan. Because Logan's not done being Logan.
There are some other fan favorites in the cast too, underscoring the fact that this movie would have been better off in the 80's or 90's. Martin Kove has a mustache, but, more importantly, a Southwest Indian vest he wears at crucial moments in his career. If there's an emergency in the CIA Situation Room while he's in his office, he throws on his Indian vest and runs to meet the urgency. Just like all CIA directors. And, just as suddenly as it appears, it enigmatically fades away, like an Indian smoke signal. He had a similar wardrobe in Endangered (1994) - maybe he's doing the whole Seagal "buckskin jacket" thing. But with a vest.
Top fan fave Robert Davi plays the typical "suit" role he's assayed many times before, but we always love seeing him, and his presence raises the level of the movie overall. Though in a scene in a conference room with Martin Kove, Kove's voice seems normal, but Davi's sounds like it's coming through a telephone. Somehow, Davi manages to be both on the phone and in person at the same time. It's truly uncanny. We'd say it's almost Night of the Kickfighters-esque, but the sound of both the movie and the DVD is poor. If you watch the DVD, you'll have to crank up the volume to hear anything. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, or we may not have noticed Davi's tele-ventriloquistic abilities. Also, the great James Lew and Simon Rhee appear in nothing roles as "Chinese Guard #1" and "Chinese Guard #2", respectively. That's just shameful and wasteful - they deserve better.
Just like how Sheryl Crow's teeth are whiter than white, Ballistica's budget is lower than low. But the movie is TRYING, which is more than you can say for other DTV crud of a similar ilk. The fact that it's all taken so seriously is absolutely hilarious (unless it's not and we missed the joke) and makes it worth watching. As we've discussed before, there are many types of dumb - some good, some bad. Luckily, this is fun dumb, so you can easily have fun watching Ballistica.
So, just to reiterate, Ballistica is a thing. And who better to introduce it to the world than a man named Paul Logan (not to be confused with Crocodile Dundee himself, Paul Hogan). We all remember Logan from The Ultimate Game (2001), right?...right? He looks like a 'roided-up Jerry O'Connell, has the charisma of a piece of shrimp toast, and also looks like a 'roided-up Jason Bateman. He deals with his emotional pain by remaining shirtless as much as possible. You've heard of a therapy dog? Well he doesn't have a therapy shirt. He might be our new favorite human being. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of Logan. Because Logan's not done being Logan.
There are some other fan favorites in the cast too, underscoring the fact that this movie would have been better off in the 80's or 90's. Martin Kove has a mustache, but, more importantly, a Southwest Indian vest he wears at crucial moments in his career. If there's an emergency in the CIA Situation Room while he's in his office, he throws on his Indian vest and runs to meet the urgency. Just like all CIA directors. And, just as suddenly as it appears, it enigmatically fades away, like an Indian smoke signal. He had a similar wardrobe in Endangered (1994) - maybe he's doing the whole Seagal "buckskin jacket" thing. But with a vest.
Top fan fave Robert Davi plays the typical "suit" role he's assayed many times before, but we always love seeing him, and his presence raises the level of the movie overall. Though in a scene in a conference room with Martin Kove, Kove's voice seems normal, but Davi's sounds like it's coming through a telephone. Somehow, Davi manages to be both on the phone and in person at the same time. It's truly uncanny. We'd say it's almost Night of the Kickfighters-esque, but the sound of both the movie and the DVD is poor. If you watch the DVD, you'll have to crank up the volume to hear anything. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, or we may not have noticed Davi's tele-ventriloquistic abilities. Also, the great James Lew and Simon Rhee appear in nothing roles as "Chinese Guard #1" and "Chinese Guard #2", respectively. That's just shameful and wasteful - they deserve better.
Just like how Sheryl Crow's teeth are whiter than white, Ballistica's budget is lower than low. But the movie is TRYING, which is more than you can say for other DTV crud of a similar ilk. The fact that it's all taken so seriously is absolutely hilarious (unless it's not and we missed the joke) and makes it worth watching. As we've discussed before, there are many types of dumb - some good, some bad. Luckily, this is fun dumb, so you can easily have fun watching Ballistica.
SEAL TEAM 6 ,Hey here is your recruiting poster/training video !
guestar5717 May 2011
Starring: Robert Davi ,Martin Kove ,Andrew Divoff and Paul Logan. 'How to you create a movie around martial arts and weapons as a form of self defense'. GYMKATA tried something like this,Remember ? GAME OF DEATH had some elements like this movie, Breaking the mold of what makes an action film. Sure Chuck Norris or Stephen Seagal could have made a film like this,But there too old
Get the picture,Paul Logan is incredible to watch—Perhaps a throwback to yesterdays movie stars. This must have been a labor of love for Gary Jones (director) and Tony Kandah(writer) they spent two years developing this martial arts hybrid of an action flick.
So what it's impossible lol
djmike-6347427 March 2022
The movie is down right stupid at times, impossible, and ok dumb. It has enough action and storyline that you can make it to the end. It has a couple unexpected twist to hold your attention. I meant to give this a 7 but I'll didn't know how to change it. Give it a watch decide for yourself.
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