Film Review: Ballerina

It’s funny when a film really resonates with audiences, especially when they become a juggernaut franchise overnight. Most franchises these days are pre-planned, but the stylish and uniqueness of John Wick catapulted the character into legendary status within days. The John Wick franchise comprises of four “chapters” of the series all which are focused on the titular character played by Keanu Reeves. It was somewhat inevitable then that the series would shift focus and would have other characters take the lead in future instalments. That is exactly what has happened here with Ballerina, which is subtitled, “From the World of John Wick”.

Ballerina keeps the stylish, neon-soaked aesthetic and stunt-heavy action scenes that made all the John Wick films feel iconic. This spin-off is in essence an ‘inter-quel’ as it takes place between two different John Wick films and it even has John Wick in the film at a few pivotal moments. This unfortunately makes the other films a necessary watch in order to keep up with what is going on. Ballerina does a good job standing on its own two feet but there at moments where the shadow of John Wick looms rather largely.

As every action film does these days, the story is focused on a revenge plot. Without giving out too many spoilers, a young girl Eve is raised to be a killer as an adult. She is welcomed into the world of assassin’s as she is introduced to the Ruska Roma in New York. Her family were killed by unknown assassin’s when Eve was only little, but she remembers it very well. When these formidable adversaries return to her life, she decides to chase them down and hunt them all until she gets answers as to why her family was brutally murdered. The revenge plot is exactly a unique narrative gimmick but it sets the story up rather well.

Ana de Armas plays Eve and her work in action films such as Ghosted and No Time to Die helped pave her way to lead this female-centred spin-off of the John Wick films. There are a few returning characters from previous John Wick films in this film, but there are new characters too with Gabriel Byrne and Norman Reedus proving to be highlights of this film. There are twists and turns but the emphasis is more on action than on story.

Filmmaker Len Wiseman has experience with action with the Total Recall reboot and the Underworld films. This clearly shows as he handles and navigates certain scenes with grace and with fluidity, almost like a ballerina — you can see why they titled it that now. Wiseman does a great job of honouring what the series has become instead of the roots of it all. By doing so you get introduced to a new type of action-like “kung-fu”-ness. Other films use ‘gun-fu’, ‘car-fu’ and ‘horse-fu’ as ways of upping the action and stunts in new and creative ways. The type they go for this time is ‘fire-fu’ and you will see why by the end.

Ballerina is an entertaining watch with a lot of similarities to its predecessors. It feels more like a John Wick film than a spin-off, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. However, the film does drag along a little and the action moments are far too brief and could have been shown for longer. For better or worst this is one franchise that will keep going on and Ballerina proves there is still life in the franchise yet.

★★★☆☆

3/5

Final Verdict:

Ballerina is essentially John Wick but with a female protagonist. Mimicking a lot of elements and stunts from previous films, Ballerina completely inhabits in the same world that makes New York feel like a modern myth. With hotels for assassin’s, violent cults and insane gun sequences, everything you’d want from a film such as this is here. It may not hold against the real John Wick, but it acts as a comforting companion piece to the franchise.

Thanks for reading today’s blog!

Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions