Ballerina, the first cinematic spin-off of the John Wick franchise, is finally about to grace our screens. Though it does have a unique feel compared to Keanu Reeves' Wick entries, it's clearly a spiritual continuation of the franchise's engaging worldbuilding and high-octane action sequences. A few glaring narrative issues aside, it features the best action work yet for Ana de Armas and is an entertaining spin-off featuring a character whose journey is worth following.
The John Wick franchise isn't merely interesting for its top-shelf action sequences, dog-friendly plotting, and the smooth cinematic talents of the deservedly beloved Keanu Reeves.
Part of the draw of the franchise is its exceptional worldbuilding, developing an entire assassin society complete with currency and life debts, safe hotels, legendary assassins with unique schticks, and the most powerful organized crime factions, from Cosa Nostra, Bratva, the Triads, and Yakuza to the Ruska Roma. The latter is the centerpiece of *long inhale* From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, providing the closest look at the Ruska Roma yet.
An Action Star Is (Re)Born in Ana de Armas
Taking place between John Wick 3: Chapter 3—Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, Ballerina begins with a young Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas, Victoria Comte as her younger self) witnessing her father's death at the hands of a mysterious cadre of assassins.
They hope to take Eve within their ranks, but she escapes. Eve meets Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who takes her to the Ruska Roma's Director (Anjelica Huston). As an adult, Eve Macarro has trained in the faction's ballerina assassin ways and seeks personal revenge for the death of her father.
Ana de Armas' action career has had both lows (see Ghosted) and high points (she was great in No Time To Die despite criminally short screen time), and Ballerina certainly ranks among the latter.
She's acrobatic, believably tough, and lands the film's impressive choreography and emotional beats. Gabriel Byrne's commanding presence makes for a strong antagonist as the Chancellor, delivering malicious enthusiasm as the head of an assassin cult that populates a small, murderous town.
The supporting players serve their roles well to the extent they're given notable things to do. Keanu Reeves has an important but relatively minor role in the spin-off but gets in an enjoyable and well-choreographed tussle with Eve in the film's final act. Norman Reedus also has a brief role, and he's unsurprisingly solid, though his character's subplot isn't a necessary addition to the tale.
'Ballerina' Has Story Issues But Delivers Excellent Action
Where Ballerina shines most is the action choreography, which picks up considerably in quantity and quality in the film's back half. En route to the quaint assassin village, the film has several setpieces that are mined well for action and comedy. Ana de Armas' Eve excels at an acrobatic style of combat that, by design, involves cheap maneuvers, like throwing people and objects around and using the environment. It makes for a fun watch, as well as adding successful bits of physical comedy, and there are more than a few memorable action moments (you haven't lived until you've seen a flamethrower shootout).
The film's biggest flaw is in its plotting. Reedus' entire plotline isn't needed to animate Eve's actions, and he seems included just to establish his presence in the world. One antagonist is revealed to have a connection to Eve that the film doesn't really do anything with.
When we see Eve as a girl, her comfort object is a wind-up Ballerina... isn't that wildly on-the-nose for a future ballerina assassin? The choreography, while strong, could also use a little more connection to her trained ballet skills. As it stands, it's not clear here what advantages the Ruska Roma get by training assassins in both murder and ballet. Wouldn't their time be better spent with focused training?
Altogether, Ballerina boasts a solid performance from de Armas, genuinely funny moments (a gun distributor that goes by "Frank" is a highlight), and well-choreographed action that starts strong and gets better as it goes. There are plot contrivances, narrative fluff, and story issues, but it develops John Wick's world in interesting directions. Most importantly, it understands that the franchise's appeal isn't its logical perfection but in how fun the world and its high-octane moments are for audiences, and it lands those elements well.
