In ‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,’ Ana de Armas Dances Around With Plenty of Visually Wild Action but No Story

Alci Rengifo

Chad Stahelski’s “John Wick” franchise is one of the great modern action vehicles, defining aesthetic richness with the kind of craft that delivers the best of its genre. That puts quite a lot of pressure on “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” a movie set between the third and fourth “John Wick” entries. The one smart choice the filmmakers have made is switching out Keanu Reeves with Ana de Armas, so as to avoid keeping it a boys club and acknowledging the uniqueness of Reeves’ stoic performance. But “Ballerina” is all looks, pulling off the flash though not the innovation of its predecessors.

Writer Shay Hatten doesn’t necessarily aim for originality with the hero’s origins, either. Eve Macarro (Armas) is one of those cinema killers left orphaned when her father is murdered by a band of assassins led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). She is picked up by “John Wick” fan favorite Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who in turn hands her over to the Director (Anjelica Huston), who then initiates Eve into the tribe of assassins known as the Ruska Roma. As she grows older, Eve is trained in weapons, mortal combat and ballet dancing. What better cover than performing “Swan Lake” onstage? During a mission, Eve takes down an assassin with the same branded mark belonging to the murderers of her father. This begins her mission of revenge.

The setup for “Ballerina” is simple and never goes beyond that. Famously, the first “John Wick” movie was itself a rather quick vendetta where Reeves’ zen shooter starts a rampage after his deceased lovers’ dog gets killed. Yet, what made that and its sequels so absorbing was the craft with which the stories were told. Stahelski would stage moments where the camera seemed to dance and the choreography gave the violence the texture of ballet (pun intended). The cinematography was elegant and lush. “Ballerina” attempts to follow that pattern with director Len Wiseman and cinematographer Romain Lacourbas efficiently framing the shots, casting nightclub scenes with that archetype neon glow. The music by Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard goes for that electro thump mixed with some house needle drops.

What is missing is the liveliness of the “John Wick” movies. After the typical introductions where Eve turns out to be no different from her other gun-wielding cousins in movies like “Lucy” and “Red Sparrow,” her journey threatens to become very redundant. The stunts and action are impressive on a technical level but filmed with a flatter dimension. You never get a heart-stopper like the Arc de Triomphe sequence in “John Wick: Chapter 4.” The dialogue lacks any real humor or the oddball eloquence of Ian McShane’s scenes in the other movies. Plainly said, we are just meant to watch Ana de Armas roundhouse kick goons, shoot her way through hallways and stab henchmen for 2 hours without real self-referential joys. To the director’s credit, there are one or two memorable scenes. Some of the old “Wick” energy comes back when Eve stands down an assassin’s flamethrower with a fire hose, creating a wild visual of fire versus water. 

Another secret to the success of “John Wick” is that we care for the main character based on presence alone. Reeves never has to say much, yet we root for him. What De Armas has in spades is a fantastic look for this kind of genre, which was evident in the last James Bond movie, “No Time to Die.” Eve is never truly written to her level, acting more as an action tool than as a fleshed out fictional personality we want to root for. The same goes for the villains, who lack any design beyond standing around uttering boring one-liners. What nearly saves it all is that the settings are visually intriguing enough, including a secluded, snowy alpine village that is actually a sort of orphanage for raising assassins. You can never accuse this franchise of lacking some kind of visual exuberance.

If you are fine with mindless action for nearly the entire running time of a movie, “Ballerina” could be the serving you seek at the multiplex. It is hard to say how this movie would perform had the other “John Wick” films never existed. Keanu Reeves does indeed appear, without actually being needed except to remind audiences why “Ballerina” was made in the first place. Wick is included in the plot as nothing more than a side detail, making us wonder how he has time to knock off a few bad guys with Eve when he is supposedly in the middle of all the events in “Chapter 3” and “Chapter 4.” Yet, we still have more fun with his brief appearances than with the rest of this movie. “Ballerina” has promise but instead it ends up getting lost in all the gunfire.

“From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” releases June 6 in theaters nationwide.