Time: 125 Minutes
Age Rating: R16– Bloody violence & offensive language
Cast:
Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro
Anjelica Huston as the Director
Gabriel Byrne as the Chancellor
Lance Reddick as Charon
Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine
Catalina Sandino Moreno as Lena
Ian McShane as Winston Scott
Keanu Reeves as John Wick
Director: Len Wiseman

I was excited for Ballerina, a spinoff prequel in the John Wick series set between the third and fourth movies, starring Ana de Armas in the lead role, and even featuring familiar Wick characters. Despite rumours of production issues and reshoots, I had hopes for it, and I was satisfied with how it turned out.

Ballerina is a familiar action revenge story and the plot is rather thin and kind of generic. Granted, that can also be said for John Wick, but I think that the first movie pulled off its concept a bit better. I think a big reason for that mainly has to do with Ballerina’s rough first act in which it tries to do a lot of setup establishing the protagonist, her backstory, reason for revenge, how she learns her skills, and setting up her journey, and the pacing is quite slow during this portion. The movie also does take big emotional swings, but it doesn’t have the pull that it’s aiming for. That being said, the story is functional enough for this movie. When it begins to rely more on the action sequences towards the halfway point, that’s where things really pick up. The movie is particularly taken to another level in its second hour; it takes a notable shift in location, ramps up the action, and is an absolute blast to watch all the way to the end. As for how Ballerina works as a spinoff, it fits in well into the John Wick series, even if it doesn’t expand the lore of the world all that much. I enjoyed the fan service, even Keanu Reeves returning as John Wick wasn’t as overbearing as I thought it would be, and he fitted into the plot okay.

Ana de Armas is really good in the lead role of Eve. She conveys her determination and vulnerability, and is especially great in the action. I really like the contrast between her and Wick when it comes to the action. John Wick may be an unstoppable force, but Eve is no John Wick, she is put through the wringer (it felt like she was thrown through things a lot more than Keanu Reeves was in his four prior appearances) and fights in a distinctly different way. The supporting cast are good too, including Norman Reedus and Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and Gabriel Byrne makes for a decent villain. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick also reprise their roles from the previous movies. Speaking of Reeves as John Wick, they use him just the right amount for the movie.

Len Wiseman is the director, he’s known mostly for making the first two Underworld movies. It’s been stated that there were some production issues and John Wick franchise director Chad Stahelski had been brought in to do some reshoots. The extent of his involvement in this movie and how much credit should be attributed to him is unclear. Nonetheless, I thought the directing was really good. The visuals are stunning and the production design is solid, in line with similar locations in the mainline John Wick movies before switching things up in the second half. But of course, it’s the action that is the highlight of the film. The fighting is well choreographed, the violence is over the top, bloody and brutal, and overall it is in line with the previous movies. While that was to be expected, I admire how Ballerina managed to make its action stand out even from the previous four movies, and it remains constantly inventive throughout. The fighting is a lot more visceral and it gets very creative with weapons. It is also the most explosive of the 5 Wick-verse movies, especially towards the end.

Ballerina is a solid John Wick spin off and incredibly entertaining action thriller, led by a great Ana de Armas and with fantastic action sequences. It’s by far the worst of the franchise, but is pretty good for what it is.