Trying to determine the single worst movie that’s ever existed is a nigh-on impossible task, but if you want to take nothing but data into account, then look no further than 2002’s abominable Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever.
To be fair, the odds were stacked against it from the beginning; previous video game adaptations and any feature with “versus” or a variation thereof in the title had been consistently inconsistent if nothing else, while director Wych Kaosayananda opting to be credited under the decidedly nu-metal era-esque moniker of “Kaos” was another warning sign.
Ecks vs. Sever wasn’t the first or last film to secure the unwanted distinction of a zero percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating – far from it, in fact – but it does hold the record for the most reviews without a single one of them being positive. No less than 119 critics weighed in with their opinions on the dismal disaster, meaning that it statistically ranks as the single worst-reviewed title in history on the aggregation site.
To rub salt into a morbidly hilarious wound, it also fell to pieces at the box office and barely made it past $20 million on a $70 million budget, losing Warner Bros. a fortune in the process. That being said, it may have taken more than 20 years, but a solitary defender of Ballistic has reared their head on Reddit, claiming that “this movie is not that bad,” and that it “doesn’t deserve the hate.”
The obvious counterargument is that it does for the simple fact it’s an abhorrent insult to the good name of cinema; it’s just a shame that the sole flag-bearer in question isn’t a Rotten Tomatoes-approved reviewer.
Published: Jul 4, 2023 02:22 am