From director Len Wiseman (Underworld and Live Free or Die Hard) and writer Shay Hatten (John Wick 4 and Army of the Dead) comes a sequel/prequel no one asked for but thankfully the movie is absolutely entertaining, adrenaline filled action lunacy. There is not much to the plot, then again was there really any real plot to any of the John Wick movies, or were we all just watching them to see Keanu Reeves kick ass and take names. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is exactly that, another entry into the franchise that doesn’t focus on John Wick (and supposedly wasn’t going to have him until reshoots?) but the movie is a two hour action packed popcorn thriller – and honestly there is nothing wrong with that, so sit back toss your popcorn into your mouth and watch Ballerina deliver the goods.
Ballerina focuses on Eve (Ana de Armas) learns the ways of Ruska Roma as she needed to learn to protect herself after her father was taken out by a subsect of a hidden society. They’re shadows and they are rarely found, this subsect has a treaty deal with the head of the Ruska Roma lead by The Director (Anjelica Huston). Upon completing her training, Eve refuses to let go and bygones be bygones in regard to her fathers death, gets herself nearly excommunicated and asks for assistance from Winston (Ian McShane) who provides her with the information she desires, but advises against the plan. While she’s hunting the mercenaries who killed her father, they’re hunting her and she finds Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus) who is how the secret society tries to lure out Eve. Truly a lot going on and a lot of chaos unfolds throughout, but Eve will stop at nothing to get her hands on the people responsible even if it means risking the treaty and facing off against the Babayaga himself, John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
While the script for Ballerina isn’t changing any lives by any means, it sets up a motivation from why Eve is doing what she’s doing, her relationship/understanding with Daniel, and why she’s willing to torch everything to get her hands on the people responsible. While the movie relies heavily on the action that is where it excels and brings forth a slightly over two hour adrenaline filled action thriller. But that really is all it is – it’s arguably the definition of a popcorn flick – and nothing more than that but at the same time every movie that isn’t the first John Wick in this franchise is also more or less a popcorn flick – they’ve never tried to be anything else.
With the introduction of a new lead here, in Ana de Armas the comparisons to how she holds up against Keanu Reeves in terms of action performance and entertainment is going to be examined. De Armas holds her own without question, she can be called the female John Wick and it would be hard to argue against it – she’s still making mistakes, still learning the ropes and it works with the story and character. Ana de Armas really is great in the role, and born to be an action superstar and slitting throats, Angelica Huston, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane are all also excellent in their reoccurring roles. The new addition of Norman Reedus is also great, rounding out the cast to create a truly enjoyable chaotic adventure filled to the brim with action, blood and guts. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is a sure fire fun time at the movies, tons of popcorn being consumed and enjoying the pools of blood being spilled.
