From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

A fun, stylized return to the action franchise

I hopped on the John Wick bandwagon later than most. I don’t remember exactly when I first witnessed the Keanu Reeves-driven franchise, but it was sometime after Chapter 3: Parabellum and before Chapter 4 arrived in theaters. I watched the first three films; I liked the first two and despised the third. Before seeing the movie, I had felt the premise was quite silly. A man goes on a killing spree after a gangster kills his dog? It all seemed far-fetched and a little mean-spirited. But the films mostly won me over with their game-changing action choreography and world-building. Still, I missed Chapter 4 in theaters (before watching it at home and declaring it my favorite in the franchise) and was unsure about this new addition.

Long story short: I keep underestimating this franchise, and this franchise keeps proving me wrong—Ballerina rocks.

For this spinoff to work, it needed to justify shifting the perspective from John Wick to a new assassin, and this new character had to fill the shoes of the title character. Thankfully, Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) does just that, and the film itself takes the series in an interesting new direction.

I’ll admit to having a slight bias towards Ana de Armas. I’ve followed her career ever since her small but significant role in 2017’s Blade Runner: 2049. Her turn in the James Bond franchise (No Time to Die) left little doubt in my mind that she could take on the role of an action star, and Ballerina affirms this. Screenwriter Shay Hatten layers Eve with just enough compelling backstory to get audiences to care about the journey she embarks on in the film, one of revenge. It’s a typical setup and structure for an action film, but it works here mainly because of de Armas’s ability to channel both rage and empathy.

I was anxious to see if the action set pieces would hold up with a new director at the helm (Len Wiseman rather than Chad Stahelski, who serves as producer). Again, I underestimated this film. The action remains top-notch, and Wiseman finds creative ways to add to the fun of these sequences, incorporating items like firehoses and ice skates to an insane, almost comedic effect. Outside of the action, the film’s cinematography is another high point, as it is throughout the franchise. The locations and use of color give Ballerina a vibrant energy as it progresses through its world-trotting journey.

Along that line, the world-building continues to be my favorite component of the John Wick franchise. Ballerina gives us new characters (the highlight possibly being Norman Reedus’s Daniel Pine), new factions of this assassin's underground, and even introduces a cultish component that I found utterly compelling.

The addition of de Armas, the expanded world-building, and the continued high-level action and visuals may not amount to the best film in the John Wick universe. Still, all of it may make Ballerina the chapter in this franchise I could see myself returning to most.

Rating: 4/5