So here we are again, another spin off from the John Wick universe and honestly I wasn't expecting much from this one, I'm not a negative guy but any other content related either TV series or sequels to the first movie has not been the best and at some point in time I thik many like me were thinking if action movies were exhausted just like what happen with Avengers a few years ago. I mean we have seen how these things can go wrong, remember that Continental show on Peacock that was just very meh, yes it had it few cool scenes but never had the same impact. Now Ballerina damn, Ballerina actually surprised the hell out of me and I'm not just saying that because I'm a sucker for good action movies and lets be honest with ourself, we dont watch action movies for the master mind plot development, thats for suspense and horror, action movies I consider need less detail plot so yes this movie does have it holes here and there and yes John look a bit Ai ish tbh. The story takes place between John Wick 3 and 4, which is smart timing if you ask me because it pull back viewers from the idea that John is gone for good, gives them room to play around without messing up the main storyline too much. Anna de Armas plays Eve, this ballerina assassin who seek revenge against the people who killed her dad when she was just a kid, pretty standard revenge plot but executed way better than I thought it would be. The movie starts with little Eve witnessing her father's murder by Gabriel Byrne's character, the Chancellor, who runs this cult like organization that's basically the opposite of what the Ruska Roma stands for. Instead of having some honor code like Anjelica Huston's group, these assholes just kill for sport, which sets up a nice contrast between the two organizations, you will see how an entire town is basically a guerilla where every soccer mom carries an R15 in the back of the Van. What really got me hooked was how they handled Eve's training, they don't try to make her this superhuman fighter who can take down guys twice her size without breaking a sweat, in fact she gets beaten or worst than John during some of the movies so its refreshing seen the main character get beaten so badly. The trainers literally tell her "you gotta fight like a girl" which sounds bad but actually makes perfect sense, she's smaller and weaker so she needs to be smarter, dirtier, more creative with her approach.
Rottentomatoes Rating
The action sequences in this movie are absolutely insane and I'm not exaggerating when I say they live up to the John Wick standard, specially the grenade scenes at a secret gun shop. There's this early scene in an ice themed nightclub that feels very much like something you would see John go through fighting multiple guys and getting fucked up but then they take it to this snowy European village that looks like it came straight out of Frozen, which sounds weird but works perfectly imo. The contrast between the cozy, picturesque setting and the brutal violence happening is both funny and thrilling at the same time. Anna de Armas handles all the fight choreography very well, you can tell she put in serious work to make this believable and the movie doesn't shy away from showing her getting beat up either. She takes hits, she bleeds, she gets thrown around, but she keeps getting back up and finding ways to win through sheer determination and creativity, yes I know its not as bloody as a John Wick movie but she is a girl, I doubt its good business for movies and tv content seen her getting as bloody and badly wounded as John. The flamethrower scene is probably the best action sequence in the whole movie and it reminds me a lot of Chapter 4, it's extended and brutal and everything you want from a John Wick style fight. They also cranked up the gore factor compared to the other films, bodies exploding left and right, which I'm totally here for, also the weapons variety is impressive too, from ice skates to grenades to those badass flamethrowers, Eve uses whatever she can get her hands on. What I really appreciated was how they justified her ability to take down all these trained killers, it's not just movie magic, they show her using the environment, being sneaky, and yes, kicking dudes in the balls when necessary.
Now let's talk about the plot because last night as I was watching the movie thread about it and one of the first comments was "What about the story?", because that's where things get a bit shaky and Im not going to sugar coat it, at the begining the movie does feel weak because its all fresh faces for the franchise so you dont get the John Wick Universe effect right away, it's your basic revenge tale, nothing groundbreaking here but it serves its purpose well enough. The whole thing about Eve not knowing her dad was part of the Chancellor's group until later feels like it should have been a bigger deal but it kinda gets glossed over. Same with the sister subplot, Catalina Sandino Moreno shows up as Eve's sister who's also part of the cult, they have one fight scene and then she dies, felt like a waste of a good actress but her sister and dad dying this early gives the oportunity for a Prequel I think. Norman Reedus is in this too but his role is pretty small, he's got this whole thing with his daughter that mirrors Eve's situation but it doesn't really add much to the overall story. The movie tries to do too much with these side plots when it should have just focused on Eve's revenge mission so there are multiple characters that could have been bigger but I could understand they wanted to build up Eve as the action character and get John Wick involve if not the movie just doesnt work because EVERYONE who have seen this movie does because of John, plain simple. Gabriel Byrne as the main villain is fine but nothing special, he's just there to be the bad guy Eve needs to kill, doesn't have the presence or menace you wouldd expect from a John Wick villain. The whole cult thing could have been explored more as we don't even fkn know why they are call a cult, the damn town just reacts to an intruder and nothing else, they're supposed to be this big threat that even the Continental Hotel respects but we never really see why they're so dangerous beyond having a lot of people but still the movie does a decent job of expanding the John Wick universe without breaking any of the established rules, rules and consequences....rules "leave your brain out of this", enjoy the action scenes.
Keanu Reeves shows up for what is basically an extended cameo, this is something that I enjoy a lot form the movie even though he is just there to try to contain Eve and while it's great to see John Wick again his presence feels a bit forced too, you could tell he didn't want to be there as a character and I also hated he had to help Eve but this also gives a bit of a through back to Chapter 4 when John was helped by Caine. The movie probably would have been fine without him but I get why they included him for marketing purposes, after you watch the movie think about all those scenes John was in and take him out, it all still work, Eve could have been told you have until mid night to kill if and if you dont we send Baba Yaga after you, it all still the damn same thing. His fight with Eve is weak AF, it's not about who wins but about the situation they are both in, because inside John he also wanted the cult to be gone for some reason that is not properly disclouse but I guess its common sense, both clans are enemies. The way he talks in this movie is even more stilted than usual like he is reading from a script in front of him and slow down 2x, which was kinda distracting. The supporting cast does their job well enough with all the extras going after Eve, though nobody really stands it was cool when everyone when after Eve just like when on Chapter 4 there was a contract on John and all assasins get the notifications. Anna de Armas carries this movie on her shoulders and does it very well imo, making Eve feel like her own character rather than just a female version of John Wick, yes I know that is what she is suppose to be but I felt it was ok just because she was not invinsible, she was aslo weak compare to some of the guys she fights, although I have to admit that there were some action scenes that were a bit over the top like when she almost get run over buy a truck at the begining of the movie but that came out of now where and that is what make this action sequences special.
Looking back, in conclusion I gotta say Ballerina exceeded my expectations in almost every way, comiing from other similar even mocking movies of John Wick and the tv series The Continental it felt way better than any of the rest, as I mention leave your brain out of this, the story is basic and some of the side plots feel unnecessary but the action is top notch and Anna de Armas proves she can handle a franchise like this, my main problem is with the many characters who basically die so fkn fast and also Norman Reedus character who I was surprise was alive at the end, I though he was waisted too for no reason, I honeslty think this movie has a lot of options from here, from prequels to sequels. I felt like the movie is not trying to replace Keanu Reeves or diminish what he has built, not like other movies who try to either immitate of becaome the new action movie standard, it's just expanding the world in a way that feels natural. The violence is brutal, the fight scenes are creative and the whole thing moves at a pace that keeps you engaged all along, the movie never felt draggy and thats super important to keep pumping dopamine, you never felt like it crash at a point and I think this is because they did all the "boring" part at first. I watch this movie at home and feel like if I had watch it at the teather its money well spend, Ballerina (2025) does have a space on my Blue Ray collection which doesn't happen often these days, I try to make it special. If you're a fan of the John Wick movies, you'll probably enjoy this one, it trigger all the right reactions without feeling like a cheap imitation. Anna de Armas has definitely earned her Assasin Licence with this movie playing Eve and I'd be totally down to see more of Eve's story in future movies. The movie sets up potential sequels because damn how many characters there are left that we dont know much about them, which I appreciate in a sense. It's not perfect but it's a solid entry in the John Wick universe that proves there's still life in this franchise beyond Keanu Reeves, something really really hard to do if not as The Matrix franchise, I would give it a solid 7.5/10.
