Let's start this by making a deal, as always, I promise not to reveal any spoilers during this post. In return, all I ask is that you go see this movie like 6 or 7 times!!!!
I'm not kidding. I really need everyone to go and see this movie repeatedly. Rest assured, I will be doing the same. I fear that if we don't, the movie company Lionsgate will not make a sequel. And they MUST make a sequel. I need. No WE ALL need to see a sequel!!!!
If you haven't figured it out by now, I freaking loved this movie. Is it as good as the first three John Wick movies? Well that would be nearly impossible. Was it as good as the fourth? Perhaps.
As a 53 year old American male, I feel uniquely qualified to speak about action movie series (and no I don't think being a 53 American male makes me an expert on everything... but some guys I know surely do). I mean I have been around action movies from the very beginning. Even the ones that came out in the 60s were on TV enough that I saw them all. But I was a teenager in the heyday of 80s action movies. I was in my 20s when they modernized them bit in the 90s and I have been hooked ever since. I've seen just about everything. Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood... saw them on TV. Bruce Lee movies... rented them and watched them on Beta. Terminator and Die Hard... saw them in the dollar theater. 1990 John Woo movies and the American ripoffs... saw them in the theater. Fast and the Furious... saw the first few in the theater and got bored. But John Wick. Oh my God! These movies are simply the G.O.A.T. of action movies. We all know I love The Raid: Redemption, the movie that inspired John Wick and every other movie since 2012 with awesome action sequences, but John Wick has taken it to another level. And the Ballerina has accepted the challenge to create stunning action sequences by saying "Hey John Wick, you kind of tried to act within the realm of disbelief. You kind of tried to obey the laws of physics. You kind of tried to show that people get injured during a fight. Fuck all that shit! I'm the Ballerina! Reality is for wimps!"
Dang it! I promised no spoilers. Now everyone knows that Ana de Armas is gorgeous. Sorry.
Not only do I love the action in John Wick, I am enthralled with the universe in which it lives. In John Wick's universe, anyone on a subway could be an assassin. That homeless guy the block... an assassin. The little old lady working at the shoe store... an assassin! The sushi chef... assassin! That gorgeous ballet dancer... you guessed it... assassin! Not only that, but the rest of the infrastructure of these world is just so freaking cool. The hotel where you pay for everything with mysterious gold coins, the sommelier for assault weapons of every type, and the telephone operators dressed in super sexy outfits connecting the switchboards and entering information into 8 bit computers... oh my god that are all so awesome! I would watch a movie or show about any of the jobs that help support the network of assassins. So it is no surprise that I loved Ballerina.
Ok enough John Wick fanboying. Let me say some spoiler -free things about Ballerina. First of all, in full disclosure, I think Ana de Armas is perhaps the most beautiful actress I have ever seen. She's simply stunning. If there were ever a woman who deserved to live in Banshee Pennsylvania, it is her. But if she couldn't act, I wouldn't like her. Want proof? I can't stand movies with Gal Gadot. Anyway back to Ana de Armas. Not only can she act, but she is able to pull off physical action scenes. Ever since she stole the movie as Paloma in the James Bond movie No Time to Die, I have been waiting for Hollywood that they were sitting on a goldmine. I couldn't wait for them to cast her in an action movie. Well it was worth the wait! Although she is no Keanu (after all, who else is?) she does a great job in the action sequences. And there are plenty of them.
I honestly do not think there was a wasted scene in the entire movie. They are either exploring something weird in the awesome Wick World or they are showing a ridiculously over-the-top action sequence. As a connoisseur of action movies, I thought I had seen it all. My god was I wrong! There were SOOOOOOO many more weapons one could use to kill a bad guy. There are so many more martial arts fights that I needed to see. There are so many ways to use snow and ice.
If you like the John Wick movies, you MUST see Ballerina. I promise you will not be disappointed!
What is you favorite action movie series? (And feel free to say Fast and the Furious, I'm just unique in that I hate car chases.)