Ballerina - Ana de Armas Pirouettes into the Wickverse

Ballerina

English - Action
122 mins
PrimeVideo

Ballerina starts with a young man trying to keep his daughter, Eve, safe from men who are out to kill him and take her away. Eve is important—her mother was part of the Ruska Roma, and her father is being hunted by a cult led by his own father, the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), who wants her back.

Daddy dies, Eve cries, and she’s taken to her mother’s and trained to be a ballerina (a side gig, of course, for an assassin). As she grows up, Eve (Ana de Armas) decides she is “ready” for the job—mainly as a way to step into the world and track down her father’s killers.

Along the way, she’s guided by familiar characters from the John Wick universe: the Director (Anjelica Huston), Winston (Ian McShane). She even checks into the Continental where she meets Charon (Lance Reddick). Of course, the movie brings back the Boogeyman, Baba Yaga himself, John Wick (Keanu Reeves), neatly interspersing the events of Ballerina with those of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. There is a very cool, but short cameo by Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead)

The movie takes  20/25 mins to setup an all familiar premise, which we do not really want to care much about. The backstory could easily have been conveyed in a 7–8 minute graphic-art sequence with snappy music. 

Once Ana de Armas dons that black overcoat and the leather, the movie finally breaks free. Director Len Wiseman—best known for the Underworld movies and his roots in music videos—demonstrates his strength in stylish presentation. 

The staging of the action is strong. There is  one particularly cool sequence with flamethrowers that is superbly imagined and choreographed. What also elevates the movie is Ana de Armas’s commitment—you can clearly see she’s performing most of her stunts (unless it’s top-tier VFX). She moves with speed, punches with precision (“like a woman should,” as her trainer instructs), dexterously stabs down one enemy after another—(knives being her weapon of choice).

Ballerina is a clear attempt to milk the John Wick cow dry—but to its credit, it commits to Eve as the lead rather than turning into John Wick 5. A compelling protagonist, solid action set pieces (especially in the last third), and no-expense-spared production values make it a decent watch for action lovers and fans of the franchise alike.