History Film / BallisticEcksVsSever

* NinetiesAntiHero: Sever, a gun-toting DragonLady dressed in black leather with a perpetual KubrickStare on her face and on a quest for revenge against her corrupt former employees. She isn't above kidnapping a child in order to achieve her goal, and usually gives short and cold responses to someone like "IllKillYou" and "[[Film/RoadHouse Pain don't hurt.]]"

[[ActionGirl Sever]] (Liu), a rogue Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) operative, kidnaps the son of the agency's director, Robert Gant (Creator/GreggHenry). In response, Gant orders A. J. Ross (Ray Park) to rescue him and to take her down. At the same time, the FBI calls in former agent Jeremiah Ecks (Banderas) to investigate a theft committed by Gant and take out Sever as well.

[[ActionGirl Sever]] (Liu), a rogue Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) operative, kidnaps the son of the agency's director, Robert Gant (Creator/GreggHenry). In response, the DIA calls in former agent Jeremiah Ecks (Banderas) to find Sever and save the child.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Gant's plan revolves around using a nanobot that can cause heart attacks. In the last scene, Sever shoots him with a bullet primed with one said nanobot and promptly pushes a button to kill him. (Gant: "All that training ... is that the best you can do?" Sever: "[[PreMortemOneLiner No. This is.]]")]]

* LivingMacGuffin: Gant wants Michael for an even bigger reason: [[spoiler:to use him as a mule for the secret deadly nanomachine so he can smuggle it to Germany and sell it to a third-party.]]

* NanoMachine: A microscopic robot injected into a person's blood via a dart -- and can subsequently induce fatal medical conditions -- serves as the film's MacGuffin.

[[ActionGirl Sever]] (Liu), a rogue Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) operative, kidnaps the son of the agency's director, Robert Gant (Gregg Henry). In response, the DIA calls in former agent Jeremiah Ecks (Banderas) to find Sever and save the child.

* LivingMacGuffin: Michael is wanted by Gant for an even bigger reason: [[spoiler:to use him as a mule for the secret deadly nanomachine so he can smuggle it to Germany and sell it to a third-party.]]

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}. The scenes of the film shot in UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} ''are'' set in Vancouver in the film, which creates a PlotHole of the U.S. agencies involved somehow being able to roam freely in Canada, ''a legally separate country'', without repercussions from the collateral damage caused by their activities. (It's only just {{Hand Wave}}d away with Ecks being assigned to "an FBI transnational task force.")

* VersusTitle: Ecks '''vs.''' Sever. Except Ecks and Sever only fight each other once. Once!

* MedalOfDishonor: A meta example; this film is the most reviewed film on Website/RottenTomatoes [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_with_a_0%25_rating_on_Rotten_Tomatoes with a 0% rating on the site,]] and with 118 reviews, it's the only one so far to have reached ''triple digits'' in review count.

* BackwardsFiringGun: The BigBad tricks a lackey into killing himself by giving him a backwards-firing pistol.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Gant's plan revolves around using a nanobot that can cause heart attacks. In the last scene, Sever shoots him with a bullet primed with one said nanobot and promptly pushes a button to kill him. (Gant: "All that training ... is that the best you can do?" Sever: "[[PreMortemOneLiner No. This is.]]"]]

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Characters shrug off being shot, in or near explosions and vehicle crashes without much care. Gant's reaction to Sever shooting him in the arm might be the most ridiculous, [[spoiler:since it sets up the HoistByHisOwnPetard moment above]].

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}. The scenes of the film shot in Vancouver ''are'' set in Vancouver in the film, which creates a PlotHole of the U.S. agencies involved somehow being able to roam freely on foreign soil without repercussions from the collateral damage caused by their activities. (It's only just {{Hand Wave}}d away with Ecks being assigned to "an FBI transnational task force.")

The film also had two game adaptations for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance. Both {{First Person Shooter}}s. The first one, simply titled ''Ecks vs. Sever'', was [[EarlyDraftTieIn based on an earlier draft of the script]]. The sequel, carrying the film's full title, follows the story of the film more closely.

* NinetiesAntiHero: Sever, a gun toting DragonLady dressed in black leather with a perpetual KubrickStare on her face and on a quest for revenge against her corrupt former employees. She isn't above kidnapping a child in order to achieve her goal, and usually gives short and cold responses to someone like "IllKillYou" and "[[Film/RoadHouse Pain don't hurt]]."

* GambitPileup: And '''''how'''''. There are a grand total of five subplots, each equally confusing and misleading as everyone in this story has their hand in everything else.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Gant's plan revolved around using a nanobot that can cause heart attacks. In the last scene, Sever shoots him with a bullet primed with one said nanobot and promptly pushes a button to kill him.]]
* JustEatGilligan: Or rather, "Just Tase Sever!" An early action scene relies on the idea that the Defense Intelligence Agency cannot shoot Sever in their attempt to apprehend her. (She's the only person who knows where she stashed a kidnap victim, so they need her alive.) As a result they try to shoot around her to pin her down so they can apprehend her. Naturally, she escapes with ease. If just one person in the DIA had remembered that tasers exist, or tranquilizer darts, or tear gas, they would have ended the movie.

* NeverTrustATitle: The movie is titled ''Ecks '''vs.''' Sever'', but though the two have a very brief scuffle after a chase scene early on, they never truly face each other as "enemies". They even end up fighting on the same side by roughly the halfway point of the movie.

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}. The scenes of the film shot in Vancouver ''are'' set in Vancouver in the film, which creates a PlotHole of the ostensibly U.S. agencies involved somehow being able to roam freely on foreign soil without repercussions from the collateral damage caused by their activities. (It's only just {{Hand Wave}}d away with Ecks being assigned to "an FBI transnational task force.")

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: Sever guns down dozens of DIA agents and security guards over the course of the film, and not only does no one seem to ''care'', but in the end, someone says of her, "''she's a killer''" -- which prompts Ecks to reply, "''she's a mother''".

* JustEatGilligan: Or rather, "Just Tase Sever!" An early action scene relies on the idea that the Defense Intelligence Agency cannot shoot Sever in their attempt to apprehend her. (She's the only person who knows where she stashed a kidnap victim, so they need her alive.) As a result they try to shoot around her to pin her down so they can apprehend her. Naturally, she escapes with ease. If just one person in the DIA had remembered that tasers exist, or tranquilizer darts, or tear gas, or even had simply ''aimed for her legs to incapacitate her nonfatally'', they would have ended the movie.

The film also had two game adaptations for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance. Both {{First Person Shooter}}s, the first one, simply titled ''Ecks vs. Sever'', was [[EarlyDraftTieIn based on an earlier draft of the script]]. The sequel, carrying the film's full title, follows the story of the film more closely.

[[ActionGirl Sever]] (Liu), a rogue Defense Intelligence Agency operative, kidnaps the son of the agency's director, Robert Gant (Gregg Henry). In response, the DIA calls in former agent Jeremiah Ecks (Banderas) to find Sever and save the child.

The film also had two game adaptations for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance. Both {{First Person Shooter}}s, the first one, simply titled ''Ecks vs. Sever'', was [[EarlyDraftTieIn based on an earlier draft of the script]]. The sequel, carrying the film's full title, follows the story of the film more closely.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Gant's plan revolved around using a nanobot that can cause heart attacks. However, by the end, he gets shot by a bullet prepared with said nanobots and dies.]]
* JustEatGilligan: Or rather, "Just Taser Sever!" An early action scene relies on the idea that the Defense Intelligence Agency is not allowed to actually shoot Sever in their attempt at apprehending her. (She's the only person who knows where she stashed a kidnap victim, so they need her alive.) As a result they try to shoot around her to pin her down so they can apprehend her. Needless to say, she escapes with ease. If just one person in the DIA had remembered that tasers exist, or tranquilizer darts, or tear gas, or even had simply ''aimed for her legs to incapacitate her'' then the movie would have been over right there.

* MandatoryUnretirement: Ecks.

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}. The scenes of the film shot in Vancouver actually are set in Vancouver in the film, which creates a PlotHole of the ontensibly U.S. agencies involved somehow being able to roam freely in foreign soil without repercussions from the collateral damage caused by their activities.

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}. The scenes of the film shoot in Vancouver actually are set in Vancouver in the film, which creates a PlotHole of the ontensibly U.S. agencies involved somehow being able to roam freely in foreign soil without repercussions from the collateral damage caused by their activities.

* PlotHole: Plenty of these exist in this film.

* TelevisionGeography: {{Averted|Trope}}.

* BlatantLies: The movie is titled ''Ecks '''vs.''' Sever'', but though the two have a very brief scuffle after a chase scene early on, they never truly face each other as "enemies". They even end up fighting on the same side by roughly the halfway point of the movie.

* NeverTrustATitle: Despite the name "Ecks vs. Sever" implying the two main characters are enemies, they are pretty much on the same side for the vast majority of the film.

* TelevisionGeography ({{Averted|Trope}}.)

The game also had two adaptations for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance. Both {{First Person Shooter}}s, the first one, simply titled ''Ecks vs. Sever'', was [[EarlyDraftTieIn based on an earlier draft of the script]]. The sequel, carrying the film's full title, follows the story of the film more closely.

* MandatoryUnretirement: Ecks

* TelevisionGeography ({{Averted|Trope}})

* ActionGirl: Sever

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Gant]]

The game also had two adaptations for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance. Both {{First Person Shooter}}s, the first one, simply titled ''Ecks vs. Sever'', was based on an earlier draft of the script. The sequel, carrying the film's full title, follows the story of the film more closely.