Ben Ramsey (filmmaker)

Ben Ramsey is an American screenwriter and film director, most commonly known as the screenwriter of The Big Hit (starring Mark Wahlberg) and Dragonball Evolution.

Ramsey began his career in Hollywood in 1996 when he wrote the Mark Wahlberg feature,The Big Hit for Sony Pictures. He would later go on to write Dragonball Evolution for 20th Century Fox. He directed the hit DTV action films Blood and Bone and Love and a Bullet which Sony also distributed. Most recently he directed the short film Black Salt for Ratti Entertainment and his own company Ramcity Productions.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Dragonball Evolution scored 14% based on 58 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Executed with little panache or invention, Dragonball Evolution lacks the magic that made the books upon which it was based a cult sensation."

Reactions

Toriyama revealed that he felt the producers did not listen to him and his ideas and suggestions, and that the final version was not on par with the original Dragon Ball series, and felt the result was a movie he couldn't even call "Dragon Ball".

Discussing the film in the 2016 Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary “Super History Book”, Toriyama stated "I had put Dragon Ball behind me, but seeing how much that live-action film ticked me off..."

In 2016, Ramsey issued a public apology for the film, writing: "To have something with my name on it as the writer be so globally reviled is gut wrenching. To receive hate mail from all over the world is heartbreaking. (...) I went into the project chasing after a big payday, not as a fan of the franchise but as a businessman taking on an assignment. I have learned that when you go into a creative endeavor without passion you come out with sub-optimal results, and sometimes flat out garbage. So I’m not blaming anyone for Dragonball but myself."