From the World of John Wick: Ballerina – Review

Hanna, Atomic Blonde, Salt, La Femme Nikita – there have not been many female-led action films with a flair of their own, but with the introduction of John Wick (2014) and its brand of grounded yet stylistic action and intense violence, it was only a matter of time before a female version came into play. And Ana de Armas’ From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is taking down the competition with pinpoint accuracy, with the same blood-infused shots, body blows and glorious headshots that the franchise is known for.

Best known for her role of nurse Marta Cabrera in the whodunnit film Knives Out (2019), and Paloma in the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021), de Armas brings her ass-kicking charisma into the John Wick universe with the franchise’s first film spin-off, playing a ballerina-assassin from the Ruska Roma criminal faction. Orphaned at a young age, Eve (Ana de Armas) is taken into the Ruska Roma by the Director (Angelica Houston), and trained as a killer.

With an anger and intensity to train herself to seek revenge, the first half of the film plays out like a typical revenge flick, of a small female rewriting the rules of combat, and taught how to use her small size and strength to her advantage, to get ahead. Like in the first two John Wick films, there is no time for side plot or world-building, because audiences don’t need it. Putting her pain aside, Eve only has revenge on her mind and this would be a typical revenge flick, if not for the on-screen violence that John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski brings to the table.

Yet, he’s not the director of Ballerina. Not officially anyway. Credited to Len Wiseman of Live Free or Die Hard (2007) fame, there have been reports of extensive reshoots by Stahelski and there’s no denying the stylistic action and cinematography that Stahelski is known for here. Regardless, the rehashed elements of revenge might seem like an imitation, but de Armas isn’t going for the stoic here to follow in the footsteps of Wick. Neither is she going for the sweet charms of Paloma, but somewhere behind the gun-toting, knife throwing and hammer-smashing finesse is a little girl armed with deadly skills, but knows she can be easily outmatched and outpowered.

And boy does the 37-year-old Cuban and Spanish beauty get kicked, thrown and blown up in almost every battle. Stahelski, or Wiseman, seems intent to throw everything at her, from her training at Ruska Roma, to her first job protecting Katla Park (Choi Soo-young, from Korean girl group Girls’ Generation) from an assassin, played by Korean action choreographer and director,  Jung Doo-hong. From being kicked down the stairs and thrown across tables made of ice, Eve has to dish out as much as she takes, but she’s not some second-rate or clone of John Wick. Whereas Keanui Reeves’ Wick displays a weary, everyday tiredness about him after getting beaten up and shot at throughout his films, Eve has the energetic weariness to know she needs to succeed or die, so while there are fight scenes similar to John Wick’s armed combat, she behaves much like the title suggest, of a graceful dancer dispensing death with a sweet agility, though she might fall over constantly trying to stay alive.

There are several key action sequences and instead of copying the action, Ballerina dials up the blood and gruesome kills, and there is an imaginative one involving flamethrowers, where Eve dances with and in between the fiery flames.

Along her way to seek her father’s killer, she opens up a new previously unknown chapter in the John Wick universe, of a cult of killers operating alongside but separately from the High Table, controlled by Gabriel Byrne’s Chancellor. Her vengeful journey also takes her to The Continental, where she meets Ian McShane’s Winston Scott, and Lance Reddick’s Charon. Scott’s short and simple appearance is a welcome one, providing a nobility to every John Wick outing ever made, and it’s good to see Charon, albeit in a minor role, and the last posthumous one filmed by Reddick before his untimely passing.

The Walking Dead alum, Norman Reedus, also appears as Daniel Pine, a target of Eve and with several contracts out on him, puts him on the crosshairs while he’s staying at The Continental. Oddly enough, when guns start going off, you have to recall that no business can be conducted on its grounds, and there are repercussions, though this is never mentioned and only fans will recognise the fallout. It’s somewhat frustrating that Reedus’ Pine is reduced to merely a small cameo, with even less screen time than Reeves.

Given that this film takes place between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), where Wick is on the run from the High Table, it gives Reeves an opportunity to return as Wick is a small but key role, where he helps the Director hunt down Eve. But wait, given that she serves as adoptive mother of both John and Eve, does that make the two assassins adoptive siblings?

Regardless, it was a great call by the director (my money is on Stahelski) to also give Wick a short but incredible action sequence where he easily and casually takes down Eve (he is the Baba Yaga after all), and then takes down a group of assassins who stupidly think they can beat him.

If there is one small flaw, it’s that Ballerina unfolds in an almost linear fashion, where we see a young Eve, watch her train, follow her quest for revenge and watch as her family history is laid bare. There are some twists to the story, but it’s rather rudimentary and nothing as inspiring or revelationary as in the main series. While the action is not an imitation of previous films in the series, it is a variant and there’s no sense of danger, that she won’t emerge victorious. It’s not hard, when even the Boogeyman is on your side.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?