Ballerina Review – New Killer on Wick’s Block
Ballerina adds a Wick-ed Spin to this classic Action franchise – Ana de Armas Sizzles on screen as the deadly assassin Eve.
It hasn’t been easy waiting for the release of Ballerina. As a massive John Wick fan, I was eager to see where this incredible action franchise would go next. But there was also a great deal of apprehension. Every time I walked past the poster or saw the ad on a bus, the phrase ‘from the World of John Wick’ was displayed in a variety of ever-increasing font sizes. I appreciate the desire by the studio to broadcast loud and proud that this movie was part of their most popular franchise, it makes sense.
But a part of me wondered whether that could also be because the film was not very good, and they were trying to get people in the theatre doors by emphasizing ‘John Wick’. I mean, this film was delayed by a whole year for ‘reshoots’. While reshoots are more common nowadays and aren’t necessarily a negative thing, it can leave a hint (or a stench) that maybe the film isn’t coming together or is a bit of a mess. Walking out of the cinema after my screening, my first thought was ‘now that’s how you expand a franchise’.
Ballerina comes from director Len Wiseman (The Underworld series) and stars Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a young ballerina. Following her father’s death, she is taken by franchise mainstay Winston (Ian McShane) to the Ruska Roma (the same crime family John Wick belongs to). There, she is trained as both a dancer and an assassin to see which one she is best at.
While the story isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, it does carry more weight than other films in the Wick-verse. But no one is really that concerned with the plot. The question on action fans’ minds is how Ana de Armas’s Ballerina compares to Keanu Reeves’ John Wick movies. The answer, I’m pleased to say, is remarkably well!
The first and most important thing they got right here was that they didn’t attempt to make Eve a female John Wick. Despite their shared universe, it’s clear from the start that this is a very different story and character from Keanu’s killer. The first John Wick movie presented us with a mysterious, legendary killer from the outset. A shadowy boogeyman that all the criminals were already afraid of. We learnt very little about how he got to that position, and not much time is given to his backstory or personal life.
Ballerina is an origin story in every sense. A large part of the first half of the movie is spent with Eve as a child, and following that, her training and first missions. She is raw, unrefined, not fully trained and certainly not in the league of the legendary John Wick. But she is very skilled, ambitious, passionate and hell bent on revenge.
We also learn early on that she has a choice between being a killer or a protector. These are the details and elements that differentiate Ballerina from the John Wick movies. There is a reasonable amount of action in the first part of the movie, but nothing I’d describe as stand out or particularly memorable.
But don’t despair, as the second half of the movie finds its feet and it starts to feel like a Wick movie. While not necessarily displaying all the brilliance of the ‘gun-fu’ displayed in other movies in the series, we start to get the creative, inventive and occasionally even humorous interactions and action sequences that John Wick movies do so well.
While John Wick uses guns not just to shoot but as combat tools, Eve takes it a few steps further, where everything in the environment is and can be a weapon. Rather than just elaborate shootouts, many action sequences turn into scraps to survive and win by any means possible. This is perfect for Ana de Armas as it addresses those online trolls who often dismiss female-led action movies as being ‘unrealistic’ because ‘a woman could never beat a man in a fight’.
John walks, talks and carries himself with the grace and stature of an established yet battle-worn hero. With his incredible skills, unbelievable gun play, bulletproof suit and the ability to fall from ridiculous heights and sustain little or no injury and still battle on, puts him almost in superhero territory (he is, after all, Neo…sorry I slipped into The Matrix). Much like Dominic Toretto from the Fast and Furious series, we see their incredible death-defying feats increase with every movie, and we kind of accept them, no matter how over the top, because they feel earned.
Ballerina was one of our Most Wanted movies for June. Check out the others here
Thankfully, superhero status hasn’t been applied to Ana de Armas’s Eve (yet). She is small, scrappy, headstrong and while determined, still unsure of herself. She is an assassin at the start of her journey, so she has no such ‘super abilities’. And while there may be the odd ‘why isn’t she bleeding more when she just got stabbed in her back?’ moment, those can be forgiven as they are very common action movie tropes. I mean, if they had to show actual damage for every action movie hero, the films would end pretty quickly!
While not perfect, Ballerina is an excellent first entry in what will hopefully become a franchise/series in its own right. Ana de Armas is electric and manages to look beautiful and harmless while at the same time burning six people in the street with a flamethrower!
There are scenes in some action movies that are just memorable, either for their visual set pieces or their comical value, and this film certainly has a few. Without giving away any spoilers, one of mine was using a belt clip full of grenades for an execution and another simply involved some broken dishes. The film is action-packed, fun and with a run time of just over 2 hours, feels just about the right length.
Ballerina Character Posters
My only controversial opinion would be that, as much as I am a fan of Keanu and all he does, I don’t think he needed to be in the film. His parts were good and helped contextualise the world while adding ‘brand recognition’. But I wonder if he was included out of concern that people wouldn’t show up to watch it if the legendary John Wick wasn’t featured? As I said, I enjoyed his parts, but I don’t think they advanced the story or were necessary.
Having said that, I hope this movie does well and Lionsgate Studios recognises this as the future of the franchise. Because I fear that if it underperforms, they will press ahead with the ridiculous plans to somehow bring John Wick back from the dead to star in John Wick 5, which would ruin the perfect end they gave the character in the phenomenal John Wick 4. For that reason alone, please go out and support Ballerina, you’ll have a fantastic time.
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