How Big Is Keanu Reeves' John Wick Role In Ana De Armas' ‘Ballerina'?
Keanu Reeves reprises John Wick opposite Ana de Armas in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, but how much is he actually in the movie?
Reeves, of course, has starred in four films in the crime thriller franchise, beginning with John Wick in 2014, followed by the sequels John Wick: Chapter 2 in 2017, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum in 2019 and John Wick: Chapter 4 in 2023.
The 2023 film appeared to be Reeves' last because of his character's "death" at the conclusion, but its studio Lionsgate and creatives announced at CinemaCon in April that Reeves' dog-avenging assassin would be returning for a fifth John Wick movie.
Formally titled From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, the John Wick franchise prequel movie opens in theaters everywhere on Friday. The summary for the movie reads, 'Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Armas) who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.'
Ballerina also features the return of some key characters from earlier films in the John Wick franchise, including Winston (Ian McShane), The Director (Anjelica Huston) and Charon (the late Lance Reddick).
Rated R, Ballerina also introduces a slate of new characters to the franchise, including the vicious crime boss The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), the assassin Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and a rogue hitman, Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus).
Reeves plays Wick in a supporting capacity in Ballerina, but how pivotal is the character to the story and how much does he appear in the film?
Note: The next section includes spoilers from 'Ballerina.'
Producer Chad Stahelski — the director behind the first four John Wick films — director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Shay Hatten had a tricky balancing actor to pull off with From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.
Not only did the creatives have to introduce a new character in the franchise to lead the narrative, they had to bring back Keanu Reeves' larger-than-life John Wick in a way that compliments the story yet does not overshadow Ana de Armas.
The good news is, they succeed in bringing a proper balance to Ballerina but do it in a way for de Armas to make the film her own while not stepping on the John Wick series' legacy.
Reeves doesn't show up in Ballerina until about 30 minutes into the film, where Wiseman cleverly restages a scene from John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum where Wick seeks refuge from his old ally The Director in her theater. In the original film, there's a scene where The Director and her bodyguards are walking down a set of stairs in the theaters, where Anjelica Huston's character questions why Wick's path of revenge was 'over a puppy.'
In Ballerina, though, the sequence takes place from Eve's vantage point, and she eventually crosses paths with Wick for a brief conversation about escaping the life of an assassin. In total, the sequence on the stairs and Eve and Wick's encounter lasts around two minutes.
The crux of Ballerina is Eve's path of revenge, where she seeks The Chancellor and his assassins to pay for the death of her father, Javier (David Castañeda). The Chancellor, as it turns out, is not only Javier's father-in-law, but Eve's (Victoria Comte) grandfather, and he wants to kidnap the young girl to ensure she will be able to carry on his crime organization's bloodline when she becomes an adult.
The problem is, The Director fears Eve's revenge will begin a war between the Roma Ruska and the vicious cult of assassins, so she sends John Wick to the ballerina's location to eliminate the potential of that happening.
As such, Wick returns about an hour after his initial scene in Ballerina, where he — without giving away any major spoilers — locates and tries to neutralize Eve in a secret location of The Chancellor's group. The sequence, while full of hyperkinetic action, again only lasts a couple of minutes.
From there, Wick remains on the grounds of The Chancellor's compound — which essentially is a seemingly quaint Austrian town — while Eve continues her path of revenge. Wick remerges about 15 minutes after his last appearance as Eve finds herself in a do-or-die situation, only to disappear again near the conclusion of the movie.
All told, Reeves appears as Wick in Ballerina for about 10 minutes at best, but thankfully, the character's appearance is not reduced to a set of walk-on cameos. In fact, Wick has such a looming presence in the last half-hour of Ballerina that the role feels bigger than it actually is.
Smartly, Chad Stahelski, Len Wiseman Shay Hatten allow Ana de Armas ample room to establish a presence for Eve in the world of John Wick that's just as indomitable as Reeves'. Wherever Eve ends up — whether it be in another Ballerina prequel film or John Wick 5, de Armas has definitely earned her place at the (high) table.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina opens in theaters everywhere on Friday.
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