Ballistic

Lena Headey, most well known for her role as “Cersei Lannister” in Game of Thrones, stars in Ballistic, a thriller about a mother coping with the loss of her child, only to discover that the company where she works manufactured the same bullet that killed her son. The film is written and directed by Chad Faust, who also makes a cameo.

Nance Redfield (Lena Headey) lives a fairly normal life: she goes to work and comes home to her son, whom she adores. Her son, Jesse (Jordan Kronis), has enlisted in the army and has a baby on the way with his new bride, Diana (Amybeth McNulty). As Jesse ships off to Afghanistan, Nance must readjust to life without him, while also filling that void with Diana, who will be moving in.

One night, as Nance is video conferencing with Jesse, she listens to him share details about his current mission before the call is suddenly cut off. The next night, she comes home to find an Army officer at her doorstep, where she is given the devastating news that her son has been killed.

As funeral arrangements are made, she begins inquiring further into her son’s death and what happened to the bullet that killed him. She soon discovers that the bullet came from the same manufacturer where she works. After learning this and grieving, she returns to work and lashes out at her boss, Rick Barber (Enrico Colantoni), over American-made bullets ending up in the hands of the Taliban.

“… the company where she works manufactured the bullet that killed her son …”

To cope with her grief, she attends a support group, where she meets Khalil Nabizada (Hamza Haq), who leads the group, though she leaves in frustration. Nance spirals downward, which eventually leads her to take more drastic measures in retaliation for her son’s death.

I really wanted to like this film, but I couldn’t quite get invested. Lena Headey delivers a strong performance as a grieving mother—just look at her work in Game of Thrones when it came to the deaths of her children. However, here she seems to be searching for an invisible enemy. There’s no spoiler in saying the film doesn’t suddenly turn into a revenge fantasy, with her heading to Afghanistan like Rambo to take on the Taliban. Nor does it escalate into her tracking down an arms dealer selling the bullets.

She’s a mother grieving the loss of her only son, needing to place blame somewhere and searching for answers—and that’s understandable. The issue is that her son’s own choices put him in that situation, which is always a reality of enlisting in the military: there is always a risk of death. There is a scene that addresses this directly. Writer-director Chad Faust places himself in that moment, showcasing not only his acting ability but also his writing—at least in the form of a monologue.

Unfortunately, the film ultimately falls short in terms of direction.