[Minor Rock Fist Up]
From the title, it’s obvious this franchises can’t let go of the boogeyman. Len Wiseman’s Ballerina spins a mostly unnecessary groove into that tight narrative alley between John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, and it does so with all the subtlety of a grenade launcher.
The film plants Ana de Armas in the lead but because the franchise can’t let go of Keanu, he appears as well, briefly and unnecessarily but enough to figure into the plot and I guess make you really feel like you’re watching a true John Wick movie. It’s a shame because for the most part, de Armas handles the action and drama. Makes you wonder what would have been had they just made a cool action movie with a female protagonist without worrying audiences needed to see the “bearded one” or it wouldn’t be good enough.
Let’s get to it. De Armas plays Eve Macarro, a Ruska Roma–trained assassin who pirouettes from grief to vengeance when her father is gunned down in front of her and she learns he was part of a more dangerous world than she realized. She’s visited by Winston — YES!! that Winston — Ian McShane from the other movies, who promises her a chance at redemption and just like that she’s recruited into the ballet slash assassination training world of the Ruska Roma, run by The Director (Angelica Huston, also returning!). Eve wants revenge against The Chancellor (Gabrielle Byrne). The Director doesn’t want her to get revenge. Philosophies clash, of course. But at least everyone has cool titles.
As far as Wiseman seems to go to develop a unique character, living and breathing within the world of John Wick we’ve come to know and love — rest in peace to the late, great Lance Reddick, whose final film appearance comes here as the dignified Charon — but it’s the appearance of the man, the myth himself that seems to feel unneeded. Keanu Reeves himself slips in for a cameo that reminds us why Wick’s ledger of broken bones is still in the red. Their appearances are brief but effective world-glue, the cinematic equivalent of a sommelier topping up your glass just before it runs dry. And unneeded does not mean unwelcome. It’s always fun to watch Mr. Wick kicking a little ass.
Thankfully, De Armas seizes the spotlight with a ferocity that suggests she’s been studying Wick’s “shoot-first-ask-questions-during-reloading” curriculum. The kill-counts are as imaginative as they are ludicrous. Ice skates become lethal boomerangs, Eve gets very stabby, stabby and there is a freaking flamethrower fight, you guys. A. Flame. Thrower. Fight. You’re laughing at the audacity one moment and wincing at shattered femurs the next—precisely the sweet spot this franchise lives in.
Where the movie stumbles is a forcing in a head-scratching side quest featuring Norman Reedus as Daniel, who has ties to The Chancellor, trying to keep his young daughter safe. The emotional stakes should soar, but they don’t. It’s all meant to be an emotional reflection for Eve or something, but it just never gels. Reedus is game, but the subplot never clicks into the Wick-verse bullet ballet.
That detour exacerbates the runtime problem. At a stout 146 minutes, Ballerina sometimes resembles a casual three-hour gym session: remember when the first John Wick flick was only 90 freaking minutes long? They could easily trim 15 minutes — how about that Reedus family drama? Thankfully they were able to bring in Wick director and former stunt guru, Chad Stahelski, to beef up the action and make it Wick-verse-worthy. That it is.
So, does Ballerina justify its ticket price? Absolutely. It may be a bit long and occasionally lose its balance, but when the film locks into kill-mode it’s a dizzying, delirious waltz of knives, bullets, and broken clavicles. De Armas proves she can anchor an action franchise, and the movie leaves enough scorched earth for a sequel while honoring the mythos that birthed it. Call it badass but exhausting: the cinematic equivalent of sprinting a marathon in bloody ballet shoes.
Lover of movies and tacos. Ad man. Author. Member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Founder of the Terror on the Plains Horror Festival. Creator and voice of the Reel Hooligans podcast.
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