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Ballistic Kiss is the kind of movie that we in the
States refer to as "Vanity Projects." Such projects usually involve a
known actor, already famous and with an established name and reputation, who
takes on multiple chores for the film, mostly as star, director, producer, and
sometimes as writer or co-writer. The smarter actors bring in an established
writer, cinematographer, and editor to help them craft the film into a coherent
whole. Those who aren't so smart decides to take on as many roles as possible in
order to put their names under as many credits as possible. Ballistic Kiss
is a vanity project and the known actor doing the posing is Donnie Yen.
Donnie Yen stars as Cat, a former NYPD cop who was framed
by his partner and jailed, and is now working as a reclusive hitman in Hong
Kong. Things get complicated for the loner Cat when he develops a crush on
Carrie, a woman living across the street from him and whom he has a bad habit of
spying on on a regular basis. Unfortunately for the killer, Carrie is also an
Interpol Detective (Interpol is an International Police Agency) who is
investigating his latest hit. When Cat goes on a last hit before retirement, he
runs into the same person who had framed him in New York, another ex-cop name
Wesley. The run-in starts a chain of events that dissolves into mass shootouts,
destroyed apartments, and multiple kidnappings.
To say that Ballistic Kiss fails on every level is
like saying water is wet. It's really quite insufficient to describe just how
badly Ballistic Kiss comes across, and the most ironic (or should I say,
tragic) thing is that for the first 30 minutes, the movie is very watchable,
even good. Donnie Yen steps behind the camera as director and mistakes groovy
camera angles and nonstop movement for creativity. While not completely a
failure as a director, Yen proves to be unreliable as a storyteller, as the
movie becomes a mishmash of unbelievable scenes, endless shootouts, and
bloodletting.
Although I'm all for mass bloodshed in the veins of John Woo (pun
intended), I do like some context to my bloodshed. Ballistic Kiss
mistakes lengthy shootouts where men fire off thousands of rounds with a single
6-shot revolver without reloading once and another hitman pumps an apartment
living room full of shotgun shells for 10 straight minutes (again without
reloading) for story. And dear God, how many times do I have to watch a movie
about a hitman who is trying to go straight by performing that last job that
gets complicated? The premise has been done to death, and each time I see it
being repeated, I groan at the lack of creativity. Surely there must be something
a hitman can do other than "that one last job before retirement?"
Ballistic Kiss is obviously an attempt to revive the
Hong Kong Hitman Genre, made famous by John Woo and his favorite muse Chow Yun
Fat in such movies as The
Killer and Hard-Boiled.
Indeed, Yen seems to be doing his best Yun Fat impression as he grimaces and
fires off weapons from both fists for long -- and I mean long -- periods
at a time. In the movie's climactic shootout, Yen's Cat and his arch nemesis,
Wesley, stands approximately 10 feet from one another and unleashes about 5,000
rounds of ammunition at one another for what seems like forever and neither
manages to shoot the other. Although they did manage to destroy everything
else between them. I guess shooting boxes is easier than shooting a guy standing
in the open shooting back at you. Right?
The rest of Ballistic Kiss's cast fares better than
the leading man. Annie Wong as Carrie, the love interest and Interpol agent,
shows that she can act despite a badly written part. As if to point out the
absurdity of Ballistic Kiss's onscreen happenings, Yen and writer Bey
Logan makes Carrie fall in love with Wesley immediately after one police
interview. Nevermind that Wesley, although handsome, seems indifferent to
her. That doesn't prevent Carrie from showing up at Wesley's hideout a day
later in short-shorts and go-go boots claiming to want another interview, but
obviously wanting something else. (Hint hint.)
The actor playing Wesley (whose name I was
unable to find in the credit lines) does acquit himself well. He's not entirely
menacing, but is probably the only likeable character in the entire movie, and
that's saying a lot when he's the villain. He has the movie's best lines and the
actor shows promise as a thespian. Donnie Yen the actor makes another bad
mistake by mistaking dark shades and groovy eyewear for acting.
Despite all of its flaws (and there are a lot of them,
folks) Ballistic Kiss does boast a number of good scenes. Director Donnie
Yen makes great use of reflective eyewear and Hong Kong's neon glow has never
looked better.
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