This is not the film for smaller nuances. This Len Wiseman directorial is after the big punches and Ana de Armas delivers them — one flying kick at a time.
I don’t like action films and I’ve never seen a John Wick movie.
So naturally I volunteered to go and review the latest film in the John Wick franchise — Ballerina.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, to be precise.
And you know they’re serious about that title, because the first 5 minutes of the movie are spent focused on a zoomed-in shot of a musical ballerina globe.
All banter aside, Ballerina throws you into the midst of exhilarating action from the word go. A young Eve Macarro decides to go down the orphan-hellbent-on-avenging-her-father’s-death path and joins the Ruska Roma, commandeered by the chillingly effective Anjelica Huston, who returns to the John Wick universe as Director of the ballet-dancers-turned-assassins group.
12 years later, Ana de Armas seems to have aged. Everyone else around her has not.
But this is not the film for those smaller nuances. No. This Len Wiseman directed film is after the big punches. Knives, guns, axes, grenades, flamethrowers, ice skates (?), dinner plates (??) — you name it, de Armas has used it to kill someone.
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Shay Hatten’s screenplay does an incredible job of getting a few big laughs from the audience, especially during scenes that would normally be wrought with tension and suspense. But that’s not how they do it in the John Wick world (or so I’m told).
A few on-the-nose jokes, one hilarious fight sequence involving dinner plates and a walk-in freezer, a golden coin that’s the equivalent of having an All Access Pass at a concert, coupled with some zingy one-liners — all make for a solid film.
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It’s not all fun and guns though. An almost non-stop onslaught of action can get a bit tiring if I’m honest. Add in the fact that there’s barely any character development or strong story arcs, and one can begin to see the cracks. But just barely. This movie is entirely too fast-paced to get caught up in all that.
Ballerina is a spin-off set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. But if it wasn’t for that Keanu Reeves cameo, I never would’ve guessed it. And that’s how I know Ballerina is a successful standalone offering. Even in my action-averse, John Wick-clueless brain.
That Ana de Armas is perfect to be a mega action star has been known for quite some time. After her feisty and ultra-slick Paloma in No Time to Die, it was only a matter of time before the Cuban-Spanish actress was given a vehicle worthy of her drop kicks.
And Ballerina is worthy.
With a brand new villain — Gabriel Byrne as the Chancellor of a weird assassin-cult is exactly as creepily menacing yet borderline lame as you’d want him to be — and a few exciting new characters; Lena played by Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine, the fifth film in the John Wick franchise is good. But more importantly, it is confident.
De Armas’ Ballerina isn’t trying to match up to its predecessors — in fact, it almost gives a reverential nod to Keanu’s Wick.
No. Our ballerina is earning her stripes by ‘fighting like a girl’ — one gruesome, violent murder at a time, albeit at ninja-lightening pace.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina will hit theatres on June 6 in Australia and the United States, and on June 7 in the UK.
