In the 1990′s, American martial arts movies usually came straight-to-video and this is no exception. Marjean Holden, perhaps best known for her role as the multi-limbed Sheeva in MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION, struts her stuff as a hard-boiled policewoman out to nail a crime lord and at the same time, take on a corrupt police force when they frame her ex-policeman father for a crime he never committed.
The film opens with policewoman Jesse Gavin (Holden) going undercover as a prostitute to nab a local drug dealer. When the dealer learns of her identity, he tries to stab her. However, Gavin is an expert at martial arts and when the drug dealer makes a run for it, Gavin is able to chase him down and bust him.
Despite all her efforts and getting respect from police chief Underwood (Charles Napier), some of her fellow officers, namely Woo (James Lew) and Case (Jeff Rector) think that Gavin is a loose cannon, like her father was. Jesse’s father Harold (Richard Roundtree) is near the end of a prison sentence after being set up for a crime he never committed. Despite the distance between Jesse and her fellow cops, the only ones she can rely on to keep her spirits up are her father and her boyfriend Ray (Joel Beeson).
Gavin is given her next assignment. She must protect a witness so that she can testify against crime lord Nicholas Braden (Sam J. Jones), an unscrupulous businessman who not only is involved in arms dealing, but also holds underground martial arts fights out of a warehouse. When Braden sends his top person Claudia (Cory Everson), a fighter in her own right, to dispatch of the witness, it goes without a hitch. Knowing that Jesse has gone undercover to infiltrate him, Braden also has her partner killed. Jesse soon learns that she is being set up by Braden, who has a few policemen on the payroll. With the help of Ray and the now-released Harold, Jesse intends to clear her name and stop Braden’s organization once and for all.
This action film, released on video as BALLISTIC but shown on cable as FIST OF JUSTICE, is a typical 1990′s B-movie action thriller where martial arts action is used more than firepower. The film was directed by Kim Bass, who is perhaps best known to movie fans as Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong ally Stan Jones in both versions of THE PROTECTOR (1985). Without a doubt, Bass made have made a pretty decent directorial debut but many fans will most likely see it as an forgettable action film.
Model-turned-actress Marjean Holden has had her share of action-orientated roles, even appearing in a martial arts themed episode of the horror anthology TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Studying kickboxing under legend Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, Holden gets her first lead role as tough policewoman Jesse. Jesse is like the female B-movie equivalent of Jackie Chan’s POLICE STORY protagonist, Chan Ka-Kui. She does whatever it takes to get her man. Of course this doesn’t bode well with her fellow officers, who feel she is nothing more than a loose cannon just waiting to explode.
Sam J. Jones (FLASH GORDON) is the main antagonist, crime boss Nicholas Braden. A businessman to most people, he is actually an arms dealer as well as a promoter of illegal kickboxing fights. His best fighter is Quincy, played by Michael Jai White, who gets in an action scene against a kickboxer. However, his most prized possession is Claudia, his girlfriend/henchwoman, played by former bodybuilding champion Cory Everson. Everson, who appeared in DOUBLE IMPACT (1991) opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme, learned kickboxing herself and when she isn’t pressing skinny wimps over her head, she lets her footwork do the talking.
Joel Beeson, perhaps best known as the Preferred Stock model in an early 1990′s commercial, is a martial artist himself and gets to show some of his skills as Jesse’s boyfriend Ray, who helps her by going undercover as a fighter for Braden’s matches. Beeson looks pretty good when it comes to his martial arts skills, engaging in two fights against Michael Jai White. He tends to have a fast style that is almost up to par with the likes of a Jeff Pruitt. Sadly, this would be Beeson’s only martial arts film as he had the potential to carry a martial arts film of his own during this era.
The comic relief of the film and there is an element of that comes in the form of Richard Roundtree, who plays Jesse’s ex-con/ex-cop father Harold. He tends to dislike Jesse’s boyfriend because of his race at first, but it’s more because he refers to him as a “skinny butt” boy, yet Jesse always says to him that it’s not skinny, it’s cute. Okay, even this reviewer admits that’s too much information. However, Roundtree perhaps has one of the best lines ever in an American B-movie.
Fight choreographer and co-star James Lew handled the action pretty well. He knows of Holden and Everson’s somewhat “limited” martial arts skills and utilize them to the best. However, the best fights comes from Michael Jai White and Joel Beeson, whose martial arts skills excel those of the two female leads. Beeson even brings a little comic relief to a fight against veteran villain actor Vincent Klyn by using the famous “crane” pose from THE KARATE KID as a diversionary tactic before his big fight against White.
Overall, BALLISTIC is definitely a forgettable martial arts action film, but not a bad directorial debut for Kim Bass. However, if someone with the caliber of Cynthia Rothrock had the lead role, the movie would definitely be a worthy B-film in the end.
by Albert ValentinRelated Topics:
corruption • James Lew • Kickboxing • Marjean Holden • martial arts • Michael Jai White • police • Sam J. Jones • Shaft
- Richard Hawes
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