REVIEW: ‘Ballistic Kiss’ (1998)

Donnie Yen and Bey Logan’s ode to Hong Kong’s dying gunplay genre is a viciously poetic assault on the senses that breaks new ground even as it stumbles over old terrain.

Yen plays Cat, a hitman-for-hire who regularly seeks solace with a radio talk show host on air. Listening over the airwaves is a cop named Carrie (Annie Wu) who finds herself hopelessly enthralled by this mystery man, even while she is part of an investigation to solve the murders that he commits. Complications arise when Cat’s old partner Wesley (Jimmy Wong) ends up being on the same payroll as his employer. The two had been partners on the police force in New York until Wesley set up Cat, leaving him in prison for six years.

Now, Donnie is out for revenge but his first target is Carrie, who happens to be friends with Wesley. He kidnaps her in the hopes of luring Wesley into a trap, but being the usual sort of cold-blooded type, Wesley is just as happy kill them both. Carrie eventually realizes that Cat and the radio talk show caller are the same and a budding romance develops. After Carrie’s roommate is kidnapped by Wesley, Cat confronts his former friend. The impossible relationship between cop and criminal reaches its end as Carrie and her fellow police officers arrive on the scene.

BALLISTIC KISS has garnered a lot of praise and equal parts criticism over the years. Much like the hitman he plays in this film, Donnie Yen is a martial arts filmmaker of complexities and contradictions. This and his previous film, LEGEND OF THE WOLF share traits of Yen’s ambitions and excesses.

The most notable aspect of this film is the attempt to infuse a well established genre with a fresh approach to the narrative and action style. Yen succeeds on the first and fails on the second. The story by Bey Logan is more contemplative and well thought out than your average gunplay saga. The characters are pared down to their essence. For instance, Yen’s character has no life outside of his killing profession yet there is a sense that he sees beyond it to a life he would prefer to live, yet cannot exist.

We see Wu’s character make a connection with Cat, but she is unable to alter his path of destruction. Due the film’s rapid pace, wild action scenes and artistic editing, some of the story is a little hard to follow. Unfortunately, the relationship between Cat and Wesley is not as clearly stated or involved as it should have been. Wong’s character lacks depth and there is no apparent motivation for his cruel behavior other than the old standbys, power and greed.

The action shares much of its stylings with LEGEND OF THE WOLF. Lots of rapid editing, low levels of light and extreme angles fill the screen. At times, this enhances the frantic nature of a gun battle or fight, but a lack of more clear shots tends to desensitize the viewer to the violence. Essentially, what are missing are peaks and valleys in the action. Most of it is simply nonstop and attempts at building suspense are too contrived to be effective.

Also, don’t expect much in the way of martial arts action. Yen has time for a few of his trademark kicks, but this is generally an action flick that sticks to gunplay. Yen’s ability to fire his pistol at least forty or fifty times without reloading is quite impressive and wholly unbelievable.

Yen and his DP Ally Wong gain points for using a lot of creative shots and angles. At one point the reflection of Yen’s hand loading his pistol appears on his sunglasses while another effective shot shows Wu and Yen in a car traveling through a tunnel with a rear, suedo-fisheye perspective. Yet by their sporadic nature, some of these shots seem more like experiments in filmmaking.

As much as I’d like to, I can’t really say that Yen revolutionized the gunplay genre as some have intimated. On one hand, BALLISTIC KISS has a solid story with strong character development from the leads and features some memorable camerawork. On the other, the action scenes are too unrealistically intense and lack punch while pieces of the narrative and action are simply incoherent. The final result is a film that finds some success in delivering a more complex and stylish action film, but ultimately lacks the consistency and polish to pull it off.