Director: Len Wiseman
Writers: Shay Hatten, Derek Kolstad
Stars: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane
Synopsis: An assassin trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma organization sets out to seek revenge after her father’s death.
While watching From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, a spinoff from the world of John Wick, it’s hard not to think the filmmakers missed a huge opportunity to blast the energetic guitar riffs and commanding vocals of Pat Benatar’s hard rock anthem, “Heartbreaker.” Not only is Ana de Armas a heartbreaker in the film, but she’s also—quite literally—a finger-breaker, toe-breaker, leg-breaker, skull-breaker, rib-breaker, eye-socket-breaker, and, most likely, a breaker of several other internal organs.
However, that’s beside the point. While Ballerina never quite lives up to the exploits of the original John Wick films, it features up-tempo, aggressive, and high-energy action sequences from star Ana de Armas—most notably a jaw-dropping, flamethrower fight scene that’s sure to go down in action movie history. The film moves at a breakneck pace, embracing familiar action tropes while cleverly subverting a few along the way.
The story follows a classic revenge thriller format. We’re introduced to de Armas’s character, Eve Macarro, as a child (Victoria Comte), playing with her father, Javier (The Guilty’s David Castañeda), in the yard of a waterfront mansion. Javier remarks that young Eve looks just like her older sister—someone she cannot remember. (Strangely, there’s no mention of a mother.)
As the story unfolds, the mansion is raided by a nefarious crew. Javier valiantly fights them off while hiding his daughter in a secret passageway within the crumbling walls of the estate. The attack is led by the film’s main antagonist, “The Chancellor” (Picnic at Hanging Rock’s Gabriel Byrne), who gives Javier a cruel ultimatum: kill himself to save his daughter’s life, or keep fighting and seal her fate.
Somehow, Eve survives and is taken in by a friend of Javier’s—Winston Scott (Ian McShane), the enigmatic owner of John Wick’s favorite refuge, the Continental Hotel. He arranges an interview for her with the head of a Russian organization known as the Ruska Roma, a secretive group that trains assassins under the guise of ballet instruction. The Director (Anjelica Huston) offers Eve a place in the program, teaching her to become the assassin who will avenge her father someday.
Ballerina was directed by Len Wiseman, who was a head-scratching choice to put at the helm. For one, Wiseman is obsessed with style over substance as proved by the Underworld series—something the John Wick franchise seems to be on the surface, but is actually a commentary or stylized satire on our obsession with violence, with its highly stylized and exaggerated reflection of our need for bloodthirsty catharsis, like a cinematic rage room that can be therapeutic.
Ballerina lacks that quality in the beginning, but finally, slowly but surely, finds its way there. The script by Shay Hatten, who you loved for his work on John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, but who committed cinematic crimes against humanity with Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, is obsessed with a vain attempt to force a puzzle piece into Chad Stahelski’s world-building that feels like a cheap imitation.
However, as the story progresses, you become immersed in a character’s obsession with control that is enthralling, especially in the glorious carnage of the third act. Sure, there are some beats where Byrne’s villain is so over-the-top and stereotypical that he becomes one-note (including a howlingly bad scene where he orders an attack). Plus, the introduction of Norman Reedus’s mystery character feels like a cheap attempt to humanize the titular character.
Still, the action and comic relief are so entertaining in Ballerina, paired with de Armas’s commanding turn, that you can forgive most missteps or flaws. I’ve come to understand this as the “Wick Effect,” or the halo effect of violence, leaving us both thrilled and satisfied. The story follows a standard setup, but the brutal carnage is bloody poetry in motion, an action-packed pirouette that will surely leave fans of the franchise satisfied, along with the promise that future installments can build and improve upon this foundation.
You can watch Ballerina only in theaters June 6th!
