‘Ballerina' review: Familiar, fun spinoff powered by a fiery Ana de Armas

Mint

a day ago

There are times we look for complexity and depth in cinema, and times when a few simple pleasures will do. Small joys, like arcane assassin guild rituals. Or Keanu Reeves hitting every syllable in 'consequences.' Or Ana de Armas with a flamethrower.
After four films that remapped Hollywood action, the John Wick franchise has its first feature spinoff. Ballerina is the first film in this universe not directed by Chad Stahelski, with Len Wiseman of the Underworld films in charge. This is usually the point at which franchises thin out and make peace with the idea that they'll be churning out variations until the public no longer cares. Sequels say you're a franchise, spinoffs say you're a business.
It would be difficult to argue that Ballerina is an advance over the Wick films. It is, however, a perfectly serviceable, enjoyable action film, and evidence that the aesthetic Stahelski and Reeves have developed over four films is replicable, if not easy to better. De Armas plays Eve Macarro, whose father, an assassin in the Ruska Roma family, married into a rival group of assassins called the Cult. Within minutes of the film starting, armed Cultists lay siege to the house where he's been hiding out for years, raising his daughter. Eve sees her father die, and vows revenge.
Twelve years later, Eve is a ballerina in training in New York City. She's also a killer in training; Ruska Roma offer classes for both. At first, Eve is tossed aside and bested by bigger male opponents. A key moment sees her trainer, Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), pull her aside and challenge her to 'improvise, cheat, fight like a girl.' It unlocks something in her. The jump to deadly killer is achieved in a few quick scenes—though we know that for Eve the assassin game isn't an end but a means to avenge her father's killing by the Cult and its leader, who goes by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne).
The John Wick series has innovated by degrees: first film gun fu and straight revenge drama, second one a larger universe as Wick goes abroad, the third with a greater focus on martial arts, the fourth with its team-ups and crazily elaborate set pieces. Besides offering a new protagonist, Ballerina doesn't bring a lot that's new to the universe. It bears the hallmarks of 87North action: fast, hard, syncopated, clear. At the same time, de Armas is allowed her own distinct style, where quickness and innovation compensate for her slightness. This in turn pushes Wiseman and the stunt coordinators to come up with unique action beats. Cornered in an icy barn, she uses ice-skating boots as flying blades. There's a great scene built around Eve tossing grenades. And there's the flamethrower, which feels just right for the fiery de Armas, whose Eve is lit from within by the thought of revenge.
Eve has been trained to be kikimora, a Slavic witch repurposed by the Ruska Roma as protector. Even though the film doesn't follow through on the idea, it's a smart contrast to Wick the avenging demon, baba yaga. As we already knew from the trailer, he's sent to end Eve's carnage and restore some calm to the assassin business. Reeves being part of the film feels like more of a marketing imperative than a storytelling necessity. It's still pleasurable to see him and de Armas spar, even better to see them communicate in clipped, pained sentences.
For someone who came up as a stuntman and fight coordinator, Stahelski proved surprisingly adept at drawing witty performances from the many distinguished actors who've turned up in the series. Wiseman doesn't seem to have the same touch. Recurring actors like Ian McShane and Anjelica Huston are somewhat flat here, and Byrne's villain never becomes interesting (an anomaly in the Wick universe). The only cameo that feels instinctively right is Norman Reedus, his distinctive features weathered like the Himalaya, playing another dad on the run with his little girl.
In the first film, John Wick was motivated by grief too. Yet, when he fought, he was cold, precise, lethal. Eve is just as focused, but can't, or won't, shut out emotion in the heat of combat. Instead, it's fuel to her fire, that crucial, slight edge desperation and fury can offer. Maybe this is what Nogi wanted her to access when she told her to fight like a girl.