After four successful John Wick movies under the direction of Chad Stahelski, a change of director seems like a logical move to potentially give the film franchise a fresh perspective. But attaching Len Wiseman onboard for Ballerina – officially titled From the World of John Wick: Ballerina – doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Although he did well in the first two stylish B-movie action horror in Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, his subsequent transition to big-budget studio pictures including Live Free or Die Hard a.k.a. Die Hard 4.0 and Total Recall reboot were basically all style but little substance.
It didn’t help either when Ballerina was plagued by reshoots and a delay on its release, originally due last June but pushed back for a full year. Still, whatever that’s been going on behind the scenes, I remain hopeful for Ballerina to emerge as a worthy addition to the John Wick franchise.
Set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, this first movie spinoff from the franchise introduces Eve (Ana de Armas), the titular ballerina who is trained in the art of ballet and other tactical skills in weaponry and martial arts to become one of the elite assassins. When we first meet Eve, she is just a young child (Victoria Comte), who witnesses her father killed by the Chancellor’s (Gabriel Byrne) mysterious clan of killers. She survives and Winston (Ian McShane), the high-ranking member of the Continental and a close friend to John Wick (Keanu Reeves), promises to take care of her by bringing Eve to the Director (Anjelica Huston), who runs the Ruska Roma crime syndicate.
After years of extensive training, the now-adult Eve is all ready to take on a mission. I notice Eve isn’t molded as a female version of John Wick who possesses the same speed, agility and experience as Keanu Reeves’ iconic assassin role. She can be reckless at times, which is understandable, given her character is new to the world of assassination. Don’t get me wrong, she remains an ace when it comes to hand-to-hand combats and weaponry skills, complete with the familiar John Wick-style art of unloading and reloading the clip from an automatic pistol at a swift motion.
In one of her earlier assignments, Ana looks stunning in a slinky dress as she engages in a series of fistfights and shootouts against the Asian gangsters in a nightclub to foil a kidnapping plan. The action is thrillingly staged with enough verve while Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard’s pulsating score heightens the sense of excitement. It helps that Ana is looking great performing her physically demanding role and reportedly does her own stunt in Ballerina. Besides, she is no stranger to action-oriented roles after her impressive stint in No Time to Die and The Gray Man.
The story soon reaches a turning point after Eve’s later assignment leads to vital information after killing one of the henchmen, which has to do with the Chancellor. Her quest for vengeance to avenge her father’s death remains her top priority, even if it means for her to go all out on a solo mission. Shay Hatten’s screenplay is nothing more than a typical revenge story moving from point A to B and while it lacks the lore and expansion of the John Wick movies, Wiseman embraces the simplicity of his movie by filling in with enough propulsive action to keep you occupied.
The second half gets more intense once Eve discovers a mountain village with seemingly ordinary-looking folks living in peace and harmony. Except that Eve’s arrival triggers a series of attempted killings on her, beginning with a one-on-one battle in the restaurant against an assassin played by Daniel Bernhardt. The action never lets up as more people from the village are out to kill her, where the entire place turns into a violent playground of Eve against everyone. With Chad Stahelski equally involved in the movie, the battle evolves from the usual gunfight and close combat to the use of everyday objects turning into weapons. At one point, Eve straps on a flamethrower and doesn’t hesitate in firing a jet of fire against the killers trying to get close to her. The movie even goes as far as pitting her against the Chancellor’s right-hand man in a deadly confrontation of two opposing rivals using flamethrowers against each other.
Ballerina also retains the sleek look of the John Wick movies, thanks to Romain Lacourbas’ stylish cinematography, especially during the nighttime lensing. While Ana does a great job carrying the lead role, the movie equally benefits from notable supporting roles including Gabriel Byrne’s ruthless antagonist turn as the Chancellor. It would be a bonus if the movie explored more on his cult, but the story somehow chooses to keep it in a perfunctory manner since the primary focus lies mainly on Eve’s revenge.
Since Ballerina comes from the shared John Wick universe, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the man himself make an appearance. It isn’t just a mere cameo of simply showing up on the big screen. Let’s just say Wiseman manages to make his small role worthwhile without overshadowing Ana de Armas’ Eve character.
