‘Ballerina’ REVIEW: New arrival stumbles, but lands on its feet with a deadly blow
‘Ballerina’ REVIEW: New arrival stumbles, but lands on its feet with a deadly blow
"Rules. And consequences," a simple line that pinpoints what makes the Wick universe tick. For four movies now, we've seen the world as John made his reluctant return into the fold, but Len Wiseman's Ballerina takes us on a new journey, with fresh eyes. Ana de Armas stars as Eve Macarro, a young woman who is drawn into the world of assassins after the unjust death of her father at the hands of an unknown killer.
If the previous John Wick films were about John's desire to leave the world of assassinhood, Eve’s journey is driven by her desire to join it in order to find a way to avenge her father. de Armas is well-cast in her role as Eve. After seeing her in action as Paloma in the last Bond film, No Time to Die,. I was keen to see her take on more action roles, and the Wick movies are action royalty these days.
When we first see Eve training as part of the Ruska Roma, we see her repeatedly fail and fall. It’s not until her teacher, Nogi advises her that she should “You want to win? Change the terms.” that something clicks for her. Instead of relying on brute force, she adapts and changes based on who she’s fighting. Something I appreciated about the way the Wick stunt team built Eve’s style is how realistic yet fun to watch her fighting style is. She’s a lot more vicious than John is, often taking the time to deliver an extra slice to make sure the pain or the kill really sticks.
Eve is obviously shorter and lighter than him, so she would need more momentum to deliver blows, however, she is a lot faster and more agile which makes her deadlier with things like knives, a katana and even ice skates. Her adaptability to her surroundings is what keeps her alive and able to deliver the killing blow. It’s different to what we’ve seen before, but still has similar hallmarks because she and John both come from the Ruska Roma.
Of course, it would be impossible to write about Ballerina without mentioning the big Baba Yaga-shaped shadow hanging over this film. Ballerina takes place in between John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4 and we even see scenes of John in the Ruska Roma’s headquarters from Chapter 3, but from Eve’s perspective.
While everybody knows I will never turn down seeing Keanu Reeves in a movie (And I have the t-shirts to prove it.), I actually think this movie would’ve been stronger and a bit more interesting if it had kept his presence in the shadows, or even held back on it just a tiny bit more. It was an interesting choice for the first spin-off in this universe to be the story of a character that has a thirst to be in this life because of the way that contrasts with what we’ve seen from all the other characters involved in it so far.
Despite having seen the documentary, I am still stunned at the ways the Wick team keeps coming up with new, fun and inventive ways to up the ante on the fight sequences for these films. I’m never bored when a Wick action scene comes on, and that’s a testament to all the fight choreographers, stunt crew and actors who pour their blood, sweat and tears into making it the best it can be.
The fights are entertaining, not just on a technical level but also because they even include physical comedy. In this movie, I’m particularly fond of two sequences: One involving a TV remote and a Buster Keaton movie, and one with a stack of dinner plates and an angry receptionist.
I did feel the change in director in certain action scenes, especially the opening one, but thankfully, it’s not enough to distract from the flow of the movie. Sadly, one of the things I did miss was the lighting and cinematography work of Dan Laustsen; he lit all four films so beautifully and distinctly during an era of dull, grey messiness in action movies that it’s hard not to wish he was on this as well.
While I appreciated how effective the opening sequence is with establishing how much David Castañeda’s Javier loves his daughter, I wish we had gotten more flashbacks of Eve and her father the same way we have flashes of John and Helen or even Caine and his daughter throughout the films. I think that it would’ve solidified the love and rage Eve feels about his death even all those years later, so much so that she completes her Ruska Roma training and goes on the hunt for his killer.
A good moment to slot those scenes in would’ve been with Norman Reedus’ Daniel Pine, who is an assassin protecting his daughter the same way Eve’s father was trying to protect her. Father-daughter relationships are a big part of this movie and I wish it had taken the time to dig into it more.
My biggest criticism of this movie lies in its lack of confidence in the emotional aspects of this story. In Wick is Pain, the newly released documentary, Stahelski and Leitch go into how much they focused in on capturing John Wick’s grief in the first movie- partially out of the desire to be taken seriously as filmmakers, but also because they understood that it was the driving force of Wick going back into the underworld. In my opinion, Eve’s story needed a moment or two to catch its breath and check back in with Eve before the bullets came flying again.
Is Ballerina worth seeing? Despite my frustrations, my answer is a firm yes. It’s a capable, well-made action movie that is more than worthy of being a part of John Wick’s world. Ana de Armas is a shining new action star who fits perfectly into the world of killers and gold coins. The amount of dedication and skill she put into Eve is so clearly visible on screen, and I cannot wait to see where else she wants to play in the genre.
By the end of Eve’s journey in this film, it asks: “Well, what now?” And honestly, I want to know the answer to that, whatever the consequences may be.
Ballerina is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
