In 2014, Keanu Reeves served righteous vengeance on those that killed his sweet, innocent puppy and anyone who stood in his way. That original John Wick movie has spawned three sequels, a prequel television series The Continental, and now a spinoff series with the somewhat unwieldy title of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.
The lovely Ana De Armas takes on the title role of a ballerina turned assassin named Eve Macarro. De Armas has previously shown her action chops when she wielded a machine gun while dressed in high heels and an evening gown in No Time to Die.
Ballerina opens with a well-worn origin story in which Eve’s father is killed by a clandestine organization he was attempting to flee. The orphaned Eve is taken in by The Director (Anjelica Huston) and her Ruska Roma. There, she’s trained in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and ballet (sure, why not?). As part of her training, Eve’s mentor Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) advises her to “fight like a girl,” meaning use her opponent’s strength and size against them. The mantra also gives us an end credits theme by Evanescence that feels right out of an early-aughts action flick.
During an assignment, Eve is attacked by a man with an X branded onto his wrist. She recognizes the symbol as the same one belonging to her father’s murderers. The Director reluctantly reveals that the organization is a cult devoted to killing under the leadership of The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). He and the Ruska Roma have a tenuous agreement of non-interference that is jeopardized by Eve’s thirst for vengeance.
The original John Wick was an adrenaline shot in the arm for the action genre thanks to the direction of Chad Stahelski and his uncredited partner David Leitch. While Stahelski has stayed on to direct the rest of the Wick series, Leitch has branched off to helm other action blockbusters like Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, and The Fall Guy. He also directed the criminally underrated Atomic Blonde, starring Charlize Theron as a female James Bond-type. Ballerina fits right in and while De Armas feels like a John Wick-type on a surface level, the character and the film go on a different path. She’s not just soaking up bullets in tailored kevlar suits.
It may come as a surprise to see that Ballerina was directed by Len Wiseman, no stranger to action movies having given us Live Free or Die Hard and the Underworld franchise. Not very memorable, but passable entertainment. Ballerina is far beyond anything in Wiseman’s past filmography, probably because Stahelski himself stepped in for substantial reshoots. While the first two acts give us some exciting gun-fu and fisticuffs, it’s the third act that really kicks things into high gear. Unable to find a loaded gun, Eve lobs hand grenades at a swarm of unnamed henchmen. Don’t worry, she doesn’t lose a bit of her hearing even when bodies explode right next to her.
The kills only get more inventive when Eve tracks down the villains to a picturesque mountainside village in Austria. To her horror, everyone in town is a cult member and all of them are out for blood. She breaks out a pair of ice skates and swings them around like nunchucks. All that pales in comparison to what might be cinema’s first ever flamethrower duel. Stahelski, a former stunt performer himself, prefers practical stunts over CGI so those are actual stunt performers set ablaze, which makes you appreciate the action scenes even more.
Of course, Keanu pops in for a brief role as the man feared by the underworld as the “Baba Yaga.” More familiar faces include the always welcome Ian McShane as Winston the owner of the Continental and the late-Lance Reddick in his final role as Charon the concierge. Norman Reedus is a fun addition as a cult member whose story parallels Eve’s father. Also, look out for a cameo from another famous female assassin in Anne Parillaud of La Femme Nikita fame.
During one of the movie’s many fight scenes, Eve duct tapes a knife to the handle of a gun to create a knife-gun. That’s the type of action movie you’re gonna get with Ballerina. Junk food in motion picture form, it’s mindless fare done with style.
Film Value: 7
