‘Ballistic’ reveals the human cost of forever wars
As an anti-war film, the angst-ridden “Ballistic” mostly fires blanks. It also raises very little empathy for Lena Headey’s Nance Redfield, a Gold Star mom about to go postal on anyone and anything remotely responsible for her son’s death in an Afghani firefight. And this includes herself because she fears the kid was felled by one of the millions of bullets her employer manufactures for the U.S. government. Welcome to what Eisenhower famously christened “the Industrial War Complex.”
I can’t think of a more worthy target for writer-director Chad Faust to draw his sights on than scummy war profiteers. But did he need to turn his surrogate crusader into a mentally deranged Mama Bear with a death wish? It’s as wrong-headed as his film is dull, derivative and defeating. All you take away from it is an intense need for a cleansing after laying witness to a racist Islamaphobe who would be a cold-blooded murderer if not for her own ineptness.
In more skilled hands, Faust’s creation could have been a rallying cry for building sentiment against the heartless corporations raking in trillions off a succession of “forever wars” benefitting only them and their bottom lines. But no, Faust takes the significantly more distasteful Rambo approach in which a vengeful mom goes ballistic, not on the fat cats, but the entry-level peons just trying to stay afloat in an economy rigged strongly in the favor of the Epstein class.
This includes the wounded warrior (Faust) who recruited Nance’s son, Jesse (Jordan Kronis); the Muslim grief counselor (Hamza Haq) desperately trying to save her; and the foreman (Enrico Colantoni) down at the munitions factory, who, from all appearances, seems to be her only friend. Before she’s run her destructive course, Nance will also have threatened the life of the casualty assistance officer (Amanda Brugel) overseeing Jesse’s burial and severed all ties with her pregnant daughter-in-law, Diana (Amybeth McNulty), all because she was spotted chatting with a male friend. And Faust expects us to have sympathy for this nut case? This is one Faustian deal that’s not happening.
Headey, the “Game of Thrones” Emmy nominee, does little to lessen your increasing dislike of Nance by robbing her character of all semblance of humanity. Nance deserves a straitjacket more than our compassion. And how could Faust allow that to be? Our rage should be directed at the grifting politicians and oligarchs greedily sending our sons and daughters to foreign lands for monitary gain.
At least Faust gets the timing right, as we near the end of month two of an ill-defined, hugely unpopular conflict in Iran directed by hapless nincompoops. Unserious people looking to make a buck off the misery of the voiceless and unconnected; not at all unlike those calling the shots on “Ballistic,” a deadly misfire, if there ever was one. So, be wise, be best, don’t enlist.
Movie review
Ballistic
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Lena Headey, Amybeth McNulty, Hamza Haq, Enrico Colantoni and Jordan Kronis
Director: Chad Faust
Writer: Chad Faust
Runtime: 90 minutes
Where: In theaters (limited) and on streaming April 17
Grade: D
