If you were worried about the action pedigree of Ballerina not being up to snuff, or that the character was an example of the notorious internet buffoonery of “going woke,” or that this was just a cash grab way to keep printing that John Wick money, then relax. Except for you anti-woke douche-nozzles; you can go fuck yourself. This two-hour film feels like it’s about 75-80% kicking ass and taking names, with just enough quiet, character work to provide a framework that, while slight, is solid enough to hold everything together.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is the fifth installment in the John Wick franchise, set before and during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. The story follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who, after her father (Umbrella Academy’s Diego, David Castañeda) is murdered by a team of assassins led by the mysterious Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), is taken in by Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and delivered to the Director (Anjelica Huston), the head of the Ruska Roma, the tribe of ballerina/assassins introduced in John Wick 3. Over the next 12 years, Eve trains as a ballerina and a Kikimora assassin/bodyguard under the Director.
This Kikimora designation is an interesting one that adds previously unseen layers to the role of the Director’s underlings. In Russian folklore, the Kikimora can be either benevolent or malevolent, depending on the household she inhabits. Similarly, the Ruska Roma are trained as bodyguards, utilizing the skills of an assassin to protect their charges. This makes de Armas’ Eve a potentially more nuanced character than the typical John Wick assassin stereotype.
But don’t get me wrong. From the very start, after a tender yellow-hewed (that’s how you know it’s a flashback in the John Wickiverse’s visual language) few minutes between a child version of Eve (Victoria Comte) and her father, Javier, we get a brutally intense showdown between Javier and a small army of assassins sent by the Chancellor’s Cult to murder him and return Eve to the fold. You see, after already losing one daughter to the Cult, Javier is desperate to give Eve a normal life outside of the chaotically murderous Cult.
Of course that doesn’t really work out, although Eve does escape to join the Ruska Roma, which isn’t really that much different, if you think about it. But we don’t get time to think, really. Twelve or so years later, during the course of one of Eve’s contract kills, she discovers the X branding on one of her target/corpse’s wrists and this sets her off on the traditional “going rogue” path that these movies always take.
That’s not a complaint. That’s part of the biology of assassin tales and Ballerina’s script, by Shay Hatten (Derek Kolstad is credited on imdb.com but as creator of some characters, since he wrote the first John Wick), does a fine job making it a natural and fluid element in the storytelling. I have to admit, I was a little concerned about the writing, given that aside from John Wick 3 and 4, Hatten was mainly the one responsible for putting Zack Snyder’s worst impulses into written form, having scripted both Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves, plus Parts One and Two of the mind-numbingly awful Rebel Moon.
And when Len Wiseman was announced as director, I lost even more hope, as after doing a passable job with Underworld and Underworld: Evolution (with diminishing returns in quality), he totally lost me with Live Free or Die Hard and the remake of Total Recall – both of which were packed with action but somehow still managed to be snooze-inducing borefests.
Was I surprised when rumors began circulating that John Wick series heart and soul Chad Stahelski came in to punch up the action – and depending on who you listen to, essentially re-direct the film? No, but I was definitely relieved. As the director of all four John Wick films (so far), his fingerprints are all over this movie. Every single action sequence in Ballerina is kinetic, hyper-violent, and a show-stopper.
Whether it’s a frenetic gun-fu fight using rubber bullets and whatever blunt instruments are handy, a quick improvisational battle where all she has available to use are an endless supply of hand grenades, an extended sequence of hand-to-hand combat moments (including a ground-breaking use of ice skates as weapons) that are strung together in a way that allows each new phase to stand on its own, while building the tension and anxiety, or an incredibly innovative flamethrower battle that stands out as a highlight of the entire franchise, yes, I said it, Ballerina may not have the emotional gravitas to surpass the rest of the John Wick series, but it easily holds its own.
The supporting cast of this film is phenomenal. Ian McShane is as slyly charming as ever, Angelica Huston carries her authority with casual ease, and Gabriel Byrne is effortlessly menacing. And Keanu Reeves shows up in a way that still makes sense with the franchise timeline and does what he does best these days. I was happy to see David Castañeda show up and hope somebody gives him an action franchise of his own someday. Norman Reedus pops in just long enough to up the stakes for Eve’s revenge tale, and it was fantastic to see the late, great Lance Reddick reprise his role of Charon one final time.
I knew, after seeing Ana de Armis’ straight-up charisma as Joi in Blade Runner 2049, her depth of emotion as Marta in Knives Out, and then watching her steal No Time to Die from under the nose of Daniel Craig’s Bond with literally just one extended action sequence, that somebody was going to figure out a way to put her front and center in her own franchise. I’m glad it was Stahelski and the John Wick world to make it happen. She seems to have put in Keanu Reeve’s level dedication to the fighting and weapons training for this film, and she leaves it all on the screen. I can’t wait to see more Ballerina films. Seriously. I want one right now.
And I also now want a flamethrower.