Bullet Points: Ballistic (1995)
When you think of the women of action who broke the glass ceiling and made an impact on the world of action entertainment, names like Michelle Yeoh and “The Lady Dragon” Cynthia Rothrock immediately come to mind. But there were others who fought their way into the action movie spotlight including the star of the movie I’ll be reviewing today, Marjean Holden.
Among Holden’s action credentials are 1992’s Sweet Justice, Automatic and Nemesis with Olivier Gruner, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and her one starring action role in 1995’s Ballistic.
- Work Sucks: Jesse Gavin (Marjean Holden) is a second generation police officer, working in an elite division of the LAPD, known as the UCT (feel free to decide what that acronym stands for as I don’t recall the movie mentioning it). Following in her father’s footsteps may have been something Jesse always dreamed of, but I’m guessing she didn’t dream of working along side chauvinistic co-workers like Detective Case and Detective Woo (James Lew in one of the larger roles I’ve ever seen him in). It is also a safe bet that she didn’t picture herself attending fancy awards banquets on orders of her boss, Underwood (Charles Napier of Rambo: First Blood Part II fame), rubbing shoulders with the mayor and “legitimate businessman” Nick Braden (Sam J. Jones of Flash Gordon fame). In actuality, Braden sells narcotics and arms to anyone with the money and desire to buy them.
- From Bad to Worse: After Jesse receives an award from the mayor, Underwood informs Jesse she needs to go to the safe house and assist Porter, a rookie cop working witness protection detail. Shortly after Jesse arrives, Porter offers to go get them all something to eat… while he’s gone, some gunmen show up and start shooting up what quickly becomes a “not-so-safe” house. The key witness is murdered and when the guns are done blazing, Porter returns. But Jesse being the more experienced and higher ranked takes the heat for this major screw up. But Jesse can’t help but think Porter had something to do with this mob style hit.
- The Set Up: Jesse decides to go to Porter’s residence and when she gets there she finds a setup that is way too swanky for a rookie cop’s salary, cementing her belief that Officer Porter was a dirty cop. I would like to point out that Porter was played by Deke Anderson and that the only thing worse than Porter’s police ethics is Deke Anderson’s IMDb profile picture. Moments after Jesse leaves Porter’s place, some muscle under the employ of Nick Braden shows up in the form of Claudia. Claudia claims she is there to reward Porter for keeping his mouth shut about the hit, in actuality she is there to tie up some loose ends. Claudia is played by former Miss Olympia Corinna Everson of Double Impact fame. And much like her character Kara in Double Impact, Cory Everson kicks some major ass, including kneeing Porter in the balls, tossing him around with ease and even pressing him over her head before she ultimately snaps his neck, guaranteeing he will remain silent. The problem is… nobody saw Claudia enter Porter’s house, but at least one witness saw Jesse leave, so when Porter is found dead, Jesse loses her job and as Underwood points out, Jesse will be lucky if she doesn’t end up in prison. The set up is complete!
- Sore Thumb: One of the things that impressed me most about Ballistic was the cast that was assembled for the movie. I’ve already mentioned action movie veterans like Charles Napier, Sam J. Jones, James Lew and Corinna Everson, but I haven’t even mentioned that Jesse’s dad Harold Gavin was played by none other than Richard Roundtree of Shaft fame. And what about Braden’s champion fighter Quint? (Braden promotes illegal fights in a warehouse he owns because this movie was made in the 1990’s). Quint was played by a lean and mean Michael Jai White and you could see why he was the champion of the Warehouse Wars with his superior fighting skills. Another guy on Braden’s roster of rogues was his right hand man Kona. Kona was played by Vincent Klyn who is most famous for playing Fendor Tremolo in Cyborg but also appeared in movies like the original Point Break, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, Bloodmatch and Nemesis. One character that sticks out like a sore thumb on this action movie all-star team was Jesse’s boyfriend Ray. Ray was played by Joel Beeson. Beeson was awful. Just awful. He looked the part, but then he had to open his mouth. I was not shocked that Ballistic was his final movie and after a few TV appearances in 1995 his acting career was over. The fact that he was hired to act on 10 different occasions is mind boggling.
I have yet to give the credit where it is deserved in regards to Marjean Holden’s work in Ballistic. With a background in stunts, dance and the martial arts, Holden proved to me she is legit and I was surprised we didn’t see more starring roles for her in the direct to video world of the 1990’s. In addition to her physical credentials, Marjean’s Jesse is a character you can get behind as she goes on her quest (with some help from Ray and her dad) to take down Braden and the crooked cops on his payroll and clear her name.
I’m not sure I would qualify Ballistic as a hidden gem, but it is worth a watch for the solid performance by Marjean Holden and the supporting cast that was assembled from some of the more memorable action movies of all-time.
Now before I go, I have assembled some Bonus Bullet Points for your reading pleasure…
- Highlight of the Night: The fight between Jesse and Claudia is probably the highlight of the entire film. Both women can give an ass whooping and take an ass whooping. This scene is a must see for all you Cory Everson fans out there, and I know there’s a lot of you!
- Disturbing Quote #1: “For your information his white ass ain’t skinny, it’s cute.” – Jesse
- First Impressions: Our introduction to Jesse is while she is taking a shower. I’d like to point out that this revealing shower scene is part of Ballistic’s opening credits. That is how you get an audience’s attention in a hurry.
- The Name Game: Ballistic is also known as Fist of Justice. Ballistic should not be confused with the more famous Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, the 2008 version starring Simon Yam or the Paul Logan film, Ballistica.
- Disturbing Quote #2: “I’m gonna drop a whole bunch of shit on your ass!” – Harold
- Gypsy Woman: Early on in the movie we see Jesse take down a drug dealer in an alley as an introduction to how badass Jesse can be. Among those impressed by Jesse’s toughness and skills in this situation was a homeless lady who lived in the alley, she was so impressed she couldn’t help but say, :You know what you are sweetie? You’re ballistic!” DING!