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Dragonlord’s Review of FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Despite the thin B-movie plot aura early in the film and the lack of emotional connection to the lead character, Ballerina boasts a strong performance by Ana De Armas and a slew of incredible action sequences worthy of being called a John Wick spinoff.
Eve (Ana De Armas) collects her thoughts in the bathroom that’s noticeably trashed. The camera pans out to reveal dead bodies. Ana takes a pic of a corpse and receives notification of her monetary reward. She goes out of to the elevator, passing by numerous dead bodies of goons on the floor and amusingly retrieves her small knives from the corpses along the way. Eve drives away in her car and the stationary camera follows the car over the distance as to indicate the scene is over. But then, in an incredible shot that I’m not sure is practical or CGI, a van T-bones her car, pushing it back to the camera’s focus. This entire sequence happens approximately 30-40 minutes into the film but in my opinion this is how Ballerina should have opened the movie with.
Ballerina is a John Wick spinoff movie centering on new character Eve Macarro and takes place between the events of Parabellum and Chapter 4. The film starts with a prologue showing a preteen Eve witnessing her father’s death at the hands of a cult-like criminal syndicate. She is soon taken into custody by Winston (Ian McShane) who hands her to the Ruska Roma organization to be adopted and trained as a ballerina-assassin. Flash forward to the present, Eve gets a lead on the people that killed her father and goes on a one-woman mission to exact her revenge.
The early parts of the film has a B-movie quality vibe going for it especially the extended prologue scene of preteen Eve. The prologue with her father, Javier (played by Umbrella Academy’s David Castañeda), was meant to make audience connect with Eve but I think it failed as it just came across as something generic you would see in dozens of action movies and TV shows. They unrealistically brought in the head of the crime syndicate, the Chancellor (played by Gabriel Byrne), to this field mission just to have a face-off with Javier and they didn’t even have the wisdom to let the Chancellor land the killing blow on Eve’s father, which would have at least made audience relate better with Eve’s thirst for vengeance. Instead Javier died from a random bullet that was shot through a wall by some random goon offscreen. It’s so contrived how everything is set up so that Eve can see the Chancellor’s face, escapes, have a tearful goodbye to her father and be picked up by Winston later.
The whole prologue set-up is not effective in making you sympathize with Eve’s father because they’re living in a massive, gorgeous coastal villa with a bunch of bodyguards, basically giving off drug cartel vibes. Armchair writing, it would have been more effectual if Eve and her father were living a simple life in a humble home before the bad guys ruined everything (Hey, I said effective, not cliché-proof!). The problem is the filmmakers decided to stage this in a huge villa so they can play around with the action more by utilizing the different rooms and corridors of the building.
The movie jumps several years later to a grown-up Eve training to be a ballerina and world-class assassin. The whole training montage feels unexceptional but imparts Eve with an important lesson that she is always going to be smaller and weaker than her opponents and she has to be faster, more creative and cheat in order to win. Ballerina progressively gets better starting with Eve’s first assignment which is to stop a kidnapping attempt at a nightclub. It’s vintage Wick with the vibrant neon lights, pulse-pounding electronic music and stylish entrances (Eve was drippin' hard with the red dress and fur coat). I swear some of the patrons at this club are the bravest I’ve seen in cinema as most of them don’t run away to safety once the shooting starts.
The action keeps getting better and better culminating in a frenzied third act that is just non-stop action. When watching the John Wick films, there are times you feel that there are no regular people left and everybody is just part of the criminal underworld. In Ballerina, they turn that into reality as Eva goes up against a whole town filled with sleeper assassins. John Wick is known for its gun-fu, Ballerina introduces the concept of grenade-fu and flamethrower-fu which are two of the best action highlights of the film for me. The sound mixing deserves special mention. The shotgun blasts and flamethrower bursts sounds are so satisfying to listen to.
Though I didn’t resonate with Eve on an emotional level, Ana De Armas does a tremendous job with the physicality, the stunts, the martial arts and tactical firearms handling. They made sure that she struggles and wins a fight, not by her physicality alone, but by being faster, by surprise attacks, using guns and knives and using every surrounding object into a weapon. Every fight feels like a dog fight and she does a terrific job of conveying the hardship in her expressions. Of course you have to suspend your disbelief to some of her feats and toughness but overall they did a great job of making her feel like an authentic action heroine. If Wick is the Baba Yaga, Eve is the Baby Yaga. Actually they did gave her a moniker, the Kikimora, which is derived from Slavic folklore meaning a vengeful spirit towards the wicked but protective of the innocent.
There are several familiar characters that show up to really drive home that this is set in the John Wick universe like Winston, the Director (Angelica Huston) and Charon, which is the final on-screen appearance of the late actor Lance Reddick. And what better way to remind fans that this is in the Wick universe than an appearance by the Baba Yaga himself, John Wick (Keanu Reeves). I hate that the stupid bulletproof jacket is back also. Wick’s appearance in the third act feels tacked on and it felt similar to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye’s cameo in Thor where it’s so obvious that this was a last-minute addition. But from a marketing standpoint, it was smart of them to include Wick in here. With a sizable amount of screen time, Wick adds to the fun with his presence and action scenes. I like that when John and Eva squared off, it showed John overpowering her. But the best collab Keanu and Ana did is still 2015's Knock Knock (wink wink).
Good to see Gabriel Byrne again on the big screen but his role as the villainous cult leader, the Chancellor, is a dud. They didn’t give him some good material to work with. Same with Norman Reedus who plays a mysterious man with connections to the cult crime syndicate. He’s just there, nothing special. I know he can’t change his hair and appearance due to commitments to his Daryl Dixon show but couldn’t they just have combed or slick his hair or wear a wig just to at least to try to make audience feel that we aren’t just watching Daryl Dixon. Although this is double dipping since he already appeared in the first John Wick movie as Kirill, I’m glad to see Daniel Bernhardt again playing a different minor character. He just have that gravitas to make every henchmen/assassin/soldier role he plays extra special.
What would a John Wick spinoff movie be without the beloved Continental Hotel. Per their rules, the Continental is a sanctuary for assassins, a place where no business can be conducted on its premises. After seeing this rule being disregarded in Ballerina and several John Wick films, the Continental should place a huge disclaimer at their entrance: “This is a sanctuary for everyone. No business can be conducted on its premises… Buuut if somebody does try to kill you, we can’t really prevent it. So you might be better off staying somewhere else.”
Len Wiseman (Underworld, Total Recall) is credited as the director but reports have come out that Chad Stahelski (director of all four John Wicks films) did three months of extensive reshoots without Wiseman present after the first cut was deemed to be a mess. So until a new report contradicts this, I’ll give props to Stahelski for delivering the beautifully choreographed fight scenes, exciting set pieces and successfully launching a spinoff character that’s a good addition to the John Wick franchise.
RATING: 7/10
IS IT WORTH WATCHING IN THEATERS? Yes, if you are a John Wick fan or just an action fan in general. It delivers on what are the most important elements for a John Wick film - gritty, slick action, inventive kills and exploring further the John Wick lore. Just turn off your brain and enjoy the ride. But if you are a bit picky on what films to watch in theaters, there might be better movies over the horizon to spend your money on.
(Leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews. Thanks.
)
Dragonlord’s Review of FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Despite the thin B-movie plot aura early in the film and the lack of emotional connection to the lead character, Ballerina boasts a strong performance by Ana De Armas and a slew of incredible action sequences worthy of being called a John Wick spinoff.
Eve (Ana De Armas) collects her thoughts in the bathroom that’s noticeably trashed. The camera pans out to reveal dead bodies. Ana takes a pic of a corpse and receives notification of her monetary reward. She goes out of to the elevator, passing by numerous dead bodies of goons on the floor and amusingly retrieves her small knives from the corpses along the way. Eve drives away in her car and the stationary camera follows the car over the distance as to indicate the scene is over. But then, in an incredible shot that I’m not sure is practical or CGI, a van T-bones her car, pushing it back to the camera’s focus. This entire sequence happens approximately 30-40 minutes into the film but in my opinion this is how Ballerina should have opened the movie with.
Ballerina is a John Wick spinoff movie centering on new character Eve Macarro and takes place between the events of Parabellum and Chapter 4. The film starts with a prologue showing a preteen Eve witnessing her father’s death at the hands of a cult-like criminal syndicate. She is soon taken into custody by Winston (Ian McShane) who hands her to the Ruska Roma organization to be adopted and trained as a ballerina-assassin. Flash forward to the present, Eve gets a lead on the people that killed her father and goes on a one-woman mission to exact her revenge.
The early parts of the film has a B-movie quality vibe going for it especially the extended prologue scene of preteen Eve. The prologue with her father, Javier (played by Umbrella Academy’s David Castañeda), was meant to make audience connect with Eve but I think it failed as it just came across as something generic you would see in dozens of action movies and TV shows. They unrealistically brought in the head of the crime syndicate, the Chancellor (played by Gabriel Byrne), to this field mission just to have a face-off with Javier and they didn’t even have the wisdom to let the Chancellor land the killing blow on Eve’s father, which would have at least made audience relate better with Eve’s thirst for vengeance. Instead Javier died from a random bullet that was shot through a wall by some random goon offscreen. It’s so contrived how everything is set up so that Eve can see the Chancellor’s face, escapes, have a tearful goodbye to her father and be picked up by Winston later.
The whole prologue set-up is not effective in making you sympathize with Eve’s father because they’re living in a massive, gorgeous coastal villa with a bunch of bodyguards, basically giving off drug cartel vibes. Armchair writing, it would have been more effectual if Eve and her father were living a simple life in a humble home before the bad guys ruined everything (Hey, I said effective, not cliché-proof!). The problem is the filmmakers decided to stage this in a huge villa so they can play around with the action more by utilizing the different rooms and corridors of the building.
The movie jumps several years later to a grown-up Eve training to be a ballerina and world-class assassin. The whole training montage feels unexceptional but imparts Eve with an important lesson that she is always going to be smaller and weaker than her opponents and she has to be faster, more creative and cheat in order to win. Ballerina progressively gets better starting with Eve’s first assignment which is to stop a kidnapping attempt at a nightclub. It’s vintage Wick with the vibrant neon lights, pulse-pounding electronic music and stylish entrances (Eve was drippin' hard with the red dress and fur coat). I swear some of the patrons at this club are the bravest I’ve seen in cinema as most of them don’t run away to safety once the shooting starts.
The action keeps getting better and better culminating in a frenzied third act that is just non-stop action. When watching the John Wick films, there are times you feel that there are no regular people left and everybody is just part of the criminal underworld. In Ballerina, they turn that into reality as Eva goes up against a whole town filled with sleeper assassins. John Wick is known for its gun-fu, Ballerina introduces the concept of grenade-fu and flamethrower-fu which are two of the best action highlights of the film for me. The sound mixing deserves special mention. The shotgun blasts and flamethrower bursts sounds are so satisfying to listen to.
Though I didn’t resonate with Eve on an emotional level, Ana De Armas does a tremendous job with the physicality, the stunts, the martial arts and tactical firearms handling. They made sure that she struggles and wins a fight, not by her physicality alone, but by being faster, by surprise attacks, using guns and knives and using every surrounding object into a weapon. Every fight feels like a dog fight and she does a terrific job of conveying the hardship in her expressions. Of course you have to suspend your disbelief to some of her feats and toughness but overall they did a great job of making her feel like an authentic action heroine. If Wick is the Baba Yaga, Eve is the Baby Yaga. Actually they did gave her a moniker, the Kikimora, which is derived from Slavic folklore meaning a vengeful spirit towards the wicked but protective of the innocent.
There are several familiar characters that show up to really drive home that this is set in the John Wick universe like Winston, the Director (Angelica Huston) and Charon, which is the final on-screen appearance of the late actor Lance Reddick. And what better way to remind fans that this is in the Wick universe than an appearance by the Baba Yaga himself, John Wick (Keanu Reeves). I hate that the stupid bulletproof jacket is back also. Wick’s appearance in the third act feels tacked on and it felt similar to Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye’s cameo in Thor where it’s so obvious that this was a last-minute addition. But from a marketing standpoint, it was smart of them to include Wick in here. With a sizable amount of screen time, Wick adds to the fun with his presence and action scenes. I like that when John and Eva squared off, it showed John overpowering her. But the best collab Keanu and Ana did is still 2015's Knock Knock (wink wink).
Good to see Gabriel Byrne again on the big screen but his role as the villainous cult leader, the Chancellor, is a dud. They didn’t give him some good material to work with. Same with Norman Reedus who plays a mysterious man with connections to the cult crime syndicate. He’s just there, nothing special. I know he can’t change his hair and appearance due to commitments to his Daryl Dixon show but couldn’t they just have combed or slick his hair or wear a wig just to at least to try to make audience feel that we aren’t just watching Daryl Dixon. Although this is double dipping since he already appeared in the first John Wick movie as Kirill, I’m glad to see Daniel Bernhardt again playing a different minor character. He just have that gravitas to make every henchmen/assassin/soldier role he plays extra special.
What would a John Wick spinoff movie be without the beloved Continental Hotel. Per their rules, the Continental is a sanctuary for assassins, a place where no business can be conducted on its premises. After seeing this rule being disregarded in Ballerina and several John Wick films, the Continental should place a huge disclaimer at their entrance: “This is a sanctuary for everyone. No business can be conducted on its premises… Buuut if somebody does try to kill you, we can’t really prevent it. So you might be better off staying somewhere else.”
Len Wiseman (Underworld, Total Recall) is credited as the director but reports have come out that Chad Stahelski (director of all four John Wicks films) did three months of extensive reshoots without Wiseman present after the first cut was deemed to be a mess. So until a new report contradicts this, I’ll give props to Stahelski for delivering the beautifully choreographed fight scenes, exciting set pieces and successfully launching a spinoff character that’s a good addition to the John Wick franchise.
RATING: 7/10
IS IT WORTH WATCHING IN THEATERS? Yes, if you are a John Wick fan or just an action fan in general. It delivers on what are the most important elements for a John Wick film - gritty, slick action, inventive kills and exploring further the John Wick lore. Just turn off your brain and enjoy the ride. But if you are a bit picky on what films to watch in theaters, there might be better movies over the horizon to spend your money on.
(Leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews. Thanks.
)
