Ballerina is a serviceable companion piece to the growing success of the John Wick franchise, substituting an epic gun fu saga for a globetrotting origin story. Set between the events of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina/assassin trained and determined to hunt down the group responsible for her father’s death, led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). Incorporating some familiar faces, Eve makes numerous friends and foes along the way, constantly adapting to the predicaments she is put in to inch closer to her revenge.
With the Underworld films leaving more to be desired, director Len Wiseman’s involvement would likely have been a worrying concern for the direction of the franchise. Along with the help of franchise creator Chad Stahelski, Wiseman delivers the same stylistic, world-building tone in line with the franchise while utilizing unique fight choreography to highlight Eve’s skillfulness in weaponry. Ballerina showcases Eve’s resourcefulness in using any weapon she can find closest to her to conquer these fights. Flamethrowers, grenades, katana swords, axes, and even ice skates are used on full display to differentiate each of her resilient fights with a seemingly endless supply of skilled assassins. The film avoids using these weapons as simple gimmicks that are often only used for one kill and thrown away for plot convenience. Eve harnesses these weapons in all of their uselessness to deliver thorough, brutal fights with a dazzling final blow.
While the John Wick franchise has never been known for riveting storytelling, the lack of intrigue and depth is much more glaring in Ballerina. The brief opening scene of adversity is meant to carry the weight of her revenge for the film’s entirety. However, the film’s fast pace unfortunately skips through much of Eve’s needed adversity faced in her training and early fighting as if she had quickly reached this John Wick level of skill without the infamous recognition spread among the assassin world. Despite the lack of story depth and character development, de Armas exceptionally drives the film forward through her grace in handling the film’s numerous stunts and expressing Eve’s tenacity in her revenge to keep viewers dialed into this globetrotting adventure. De Armas, through her critically acclaimed roles and action prominence, has proven that she is fully capable of carrying a film despite its quality.
As seen across the film’s promotional material, Keanu Reeves’ John Wick does make a surprisingly sufficient appearance, serving as a complicated companion throughout Eve’s story. He is given more than a mere cameo. Wick provides motivation to the urgency of Eve’s dangerous revenge and provides some welcoming fights and bloodshed that will certainly boost the legacy of his character going forward. However, this is thankfully depicted without having to undermine or outshine de Armas’ character. The audience will once again get chills hearing him being called the Baba Yaga for one more time. While brief, seeing Lance Reddick’s Charon one last time on the big screen is an incredibly bittersweet moment and a definitively more caring goodbye than that following his death in Chapter 4.
In the end, Ballerina is a competent entry in the John Wick franchise. De Armas’ enthusiasm and resilience through Eve Macarro keeps the film on track, despite a lack of story depth and character development to bring this origin story to life. The dynamic weaponry at play through these choreographed fights along with a few familiar faces will keep audiences glued to the screen. Though the film will never reach the heights of praise that the franchise is known for, it is surely recommended to those looking for their next intake of chaotic action that the John Wick films are known for.
Trailer:
Score: 60/100
*still courtesy of Lionsgate*
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