‘Ballerina’ film evaluation: Ana de Armas is spectacular in a middling ‘John Wick’ spin-off

This picture launched by Lionsgate exhibits Ana de Armas in a scene from “Ballerina.”
| Picture Credit score: AP

Following her stints in motion movies like No Time to Die and The Grey Man, Ana de Armas will get to convey bullet-spewing, flame-throwing, grenade-exploding mayhem upon a gazillion males in Ballerina. Nonetheless, it appears her most formidable triumph comes from the truth that her character Eve Macarro refuses to be only a ‘feminine John Wick.’ Feminine assassins aren’t actually sizzling commodity for studios for the time being (should one blame Black Widow?), however Lionsgate persistently promoting it as a John Wick movie (‘From the World of John Wick’ prefixes the title) isn’t unjustified both. The Babayaga casts an extended, unmatchable shadow, which is why it’s fairly one thing to see Eve find yourself standing on her personal toes. May we are saying the identical concerning the movie? Sadly, Ballerina could not survive that face-off.

Ballerina begins by telling us who Eve is, and the movie justifiably takes the mandatory time for this important backstory. After Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), the vicious chief of the Cult, killed her father, a younger Eve (Victoria Comte) trains to develop into a ballerina murderer with the Ruska Roma in New York, underneath the care of the Director (Anjelica Huston, reprising her character from John Wick: Chapter 3) and Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), a mentor on the institution. 12 years later, Eve is a killing machine who, as one would count on, crosses paths with the Cultists who killed her father and seeks vengeance, a quest that introduces us to an unknown world the place it looks as if Eve is likely to be out of her depths.

From right here, director Len Wiseman’s movie, written by John Wick 3 & 4 scribe Shay Hatten, goes full throttle as we flip by some grand motion set items. Be it the struggle sequence inside The Continental (the place we’re launched to Norman Reedus’ Daniel Pine, whose story additional pushes Eve to hunt vengeance) or the lengthy climactic sequence in a snowy riverside village, there’s seamless and revolutionary motion choreography. Nevertheless, what really sells this motion is how Armas’ Eve is written.

Proper at first, Nogi teaches Eve to embrace her slight body and the weaknesses she naturally carries. And so, Eve depends upon pace, spatial consciousness, fluid physique actions and impeccable accuracy. Whereas she struggles to greatest her enemies initially, she finds her peak momentum throughout a spectacular struggle at an ammunition retailer, and it’s fairly riveting to see an murderer who grows into herself. It additionally helps that Armas performs Eve with a perceptible wide-eyedness. A ballerina key toy turns into a logo of how Eve seems to be at her life underneath the Ruska Roma. She yearns for freedom and to win over her destiny, as she tells John Wick in a scene, but additionally to hunt the reality of what occurred to her father (apparently, her Latin tattoo interprets to ‘Mild amidst darkness,’ whereas her father’s tattoo denoted self-conquest). 

The problem with Ballerina is that, in making an attempt to remain true to the world of John Wick whereas additionally carving an identification of its personal, the movie falls consistent with the notion many confuse John Wick to be: a trigger-happy adrenaline junky’s moist dream. John Wick is extra; these had been narratives propelled by the fashion, grief and world-weariness behind Keanu Reeves’ sulky, chilly eyes. There’s little or no of that going for Ballerina, as Armas’ character is thrust into motion set items even earlier than she will be able to maintain management of the frames.

Whereas it’s unfair to want Eve match like a glove in a world John took 4 movies to get accustomed to, Ballerina’s makes an attempt at establishing the dynamics between the protagonist and the secondary characters, like Winston, the Director, and even the Chancellor, are hardly efficient; all we get are some juvenile exchanges.

This picture launched by Lionsgate exhibits Ana de Armas in a scene from “Ballerina.”
| Picture Credit score:
Murray Shut/Lionsgate

Certainly, one can’t pit a two-hour movie in opposition to a three-episode collection in relation to character improvement, however the considered characters from The Continentaldoes come up, particularly once you meet the present-day Winston (Ian McShane) and Charon (the late Lance Reddick). Additionally, if that collection moved away from Chad Stahelski’s John Wick movies, Ballerina makes an attempt to be on the extra pulpier excessive.

The simplicity of the plot isn’t the query right here — the John Wick movies didn’t work for his or her plot — however a scarcity of ambition. It’s absurd how contrived and handy the world of Ballerina appears for the beginner protagonist. She fights a whole lot of Cultists with weapons and flamethrowers, makes use of ice-skating footwear as shurikens, and throws grenades in shut quarters (and one way or the other retains her head), and whereas all that riveting motion impresses you within the second, the impact hardly lingers.

As an alternative, what you might be left questioning is how John Wick’s look matches into the bigger scheme of issues, for the reason that movie is about between the occasions of the third and fourth John Wick movies. Looks as if John one way or the other discovered time for this aspect quest even when he was declared excommunicado.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is at present working in theatres

Revealed – June 13, 2025 07:21 pm IST