Movie Review: ‘Ballerina’
Director: Len Wiseman
Cast: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Lance Reddick
Plot: In the neon world of highly trained assassins, up-and-comer Eve sets out on a path of vengeance that becomes more complicated the further she travels.
Review: One would have to be naive to think that the John Wick franchise was going to wrap up neatly and left alone. In addition to a short series, we have the first full-blown spin-off movie to establish a new unstoppable assassin on a rampage. Not that we’re complaining, the Wick series has been the high point of Western action cinema for the past decade and if they can keep it feeling fresh, we’re here for it.
Settling into the timeline sometime around the third John Wick outing, Ballerina shifts the focus onto Eve Macarro (de Armas). As a child she saw her father killed by assassins, and then herself is recruited to be trained by The Director (Huston) in both ballet and murder. Having earned her stripes as an effective killer, Eve sets out to avenge her father and discovers an unusual murder cult. In pursuing her goal she threatens a long-standing peace between clans and discovers that there’s more lives than her own on the line.
Shifting gear from John Wick to Eve Macarro puts the narrative on the backfoot from the get-go, as we’re stepping back to learn who this new figure is through backstory and back-to-back montages. Ironically the movie feels like it’s dragging its feet while fast-tracking the story to the point where we can get into the action proper. Much of John Wick‘s initial success lay in the simplicity of the it – they killed his puppy, he’s going to make them pay. Eve has many more steps to get to the same point, and she’s not the most complex or layered character to begin with.
It feels awkward whenever you see a trailer or poster or look this movie up on IMDb to find that the fill title of the movie is From the World of John Wick: Ballerina but it does indadvertedly highlight one issue with this movie. Eve simply isn’t distinctive enough from John Wick to feel like she justifies a whole movie to herself. She’s a dangerous killer out for revenge, wears all black and favours the same types of weapons. It’s a good thing that John Wick (Reeves) does turn up for a couple of pivotal moments because the producers seem to think they need his support.
On the other hand, the character at the centre of everything isn’t what makes this franchise such a unique experience. The world that has been built up from film to film, the neon colour scheme, the fashion and set pieces all play a much bigger role in making this movies distinctly cool. Wiseman, as a new director in the series, operates within the same book of style. The action is well choreographed to keep things engaging, although it gets tricky to tell the hordes of villains all dressed in black apart from the heroes all dressed in black while they’re grappling around the poorly lit nightclub.
Although there were times when this felt like an attempt to breathe live into what should be a story at it’s end, we get to an especially creative piece of action that reminds us why we love these films. A stylish breaking of an arm over a chair, some juggling of grenades and a duel between a pair of weapons that we won’t give away here. By the end of the film we were well on board and having a delightful time. There’s a solid group of performers jumping into brief roles, a good lead actor and all the madness this world promises.
Rating: SEVEN out of TEN
