'Ballerina' review: High-octane 'John Wick' spinoff is a killer action thriller worthy of the franchise name

Tom's Guide

2 days ago

"Ballerina," as the full movie title informs us, is the latest movie "From the World of John Wick," and that's a name with serious prestige these days.
Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves have proven to be a dream pairing for action cinema, delivering a quadrilogy of kinetic, explosive thrillers over the last decade and catapulting any future "John Wick" movies into must-see territory.
"Ballerina," then, arrives to hefty expectations and a big question: With a new protagonist in the frame and a new director at the helm (though Stahelski and his "JW: 4" team did come in for reshoots), will this spinoff deliver?
Well, I got the chance to see "Ballerina" ahead of release and I'm pleased to report "John Wick" fans will not be disappointed.
We've switched protagonists, but the format's largely the same, as our protagonist is once again out for revenge.
Set between the events of "Parabellum" and "John Wick 4", "Ballerina" introduces us to Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina-assassin trained in the ways of the Ruska Roma, studying underneath The Director (Anjelica Huston) after Winston (Ian McShane) introduced her to the group.
Her father died during a run-in with The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) and his group of highly-skilled attackers, who have distinct x-shaped scars on the arms, and when a grown-up Eve starts encountering thugs bearing the same mark in the world, she demands answers about how to track these men down.
The Director warns her off, but Eve refuses to relent and sets off to track down this mystery cult and get vengeance against the people who took her family from her.
If you were worried about the protagonist swap, fear not: Ana de Armas makes for an excellent action lead. She already proved a more than capable brawler in her brief appearance in 'No Time To Die,' and the "Knives Out" star throws herself into "Ballerina's brawls with abandon.
Eve might be less of a veteran than her franchise forebear, but she nevertheless proves to be a capable (if more reckless) trainer killer to root for. Early on, her Ruska Roma trainer informs her that her opponents are always going to have the upper hand and prompts her to change the rules of engagement to suit her skills.
Eve does this by dodging and weaving, throwing herself full-tilt into the fray (taking plenty of blows in the process), and by turning her hand to all sorts of weapons, to lethal effect.
By the time the credits roll, she's wielded everything from flamethrowers and firearms of all sizes to kitchen utensils, a katana and ice skates. Special mention should go to her creative, messy and liberal use of hand grenades during a tooling-up sequence gone wrong. Eve's fights are bloody, gloriously fun to watch, and regularly funny, to boot.
So if the thrills are still awesome, what's not to like? Well, 'Ballerina' lets itself down in the story department. That might sound ridiculous, to some — 'John Wick' is, after all, a franchise built from a story conceit as simple/pure as 'furious assassin comes out of retirement to kill the twerp who stole his car and killed his dog' — but 'Ballerina' has a sort of clunkiness to it which I don't think is present elsewhere in the franchise.
As you've seen above, the story isn't exactly anything new, and the 'twists' it throws in en route to the final act are about as obvious as they could be.
Tonally, it's still in keeping with what's come before. The intensity and lighter moments of humor are still here, but the story that hangs the setpieces together just isn't sketched as well as what's come before.
There's a heavier reliance on exposition here that I don't think permeated the main 'John Wick' saga. I know we're being brought up to speed on a new protagonist in one movie versus getting to know them over four, but I felt like 'Ballerina' just didn't quite expand the universe as elegantly as it could.
Elsewhere, new characters barely get a look in — Norman Reedus' killer Daniel Pine plays a far smaller role in the movie than I initially expected — and a key player in Eve's life is on hand for a story revelation, but then gets bumped off in a housefire moments later after a uttering a handful of lines in a trite emotional beat.
It's tempting to ignore these quibbles, though; 'Ballerina' might be a more uneven watch than the ultra-lean 'John Wick' or its increasingly maximalist sequels, but it's one that — and I cannot stress this enough — still delivers where it counts.
Ultimately, I think "Ballerina" might be the lesser of the five "John Wick" films — but in a franchise that's as consistently entertaining as this one, that's nothing to be ashamed of.
The story might not be as inspiring and feel a tad underbaked, but when the bullets are flying or the swords (or skates) are being swung, the carnage is still a joy to behold.
In short? Franchise devotees and moviegoers on the hunt for some adrenaline-pumping entertainment will want to make time to see "Ballerina" ASAP.