BALLERINA could have been an Experience Never if it weren’t for two things: One of the most incredible fight scenes ever to be put to film, and watching a woman kick A LOT of ass. This offshoot of the popular (and much better) JOHN WICK franchise features the shallowest of plots and a lot of combat sequences and not much else. Let’s dive in.
Most moviegoers are aware of how a successful and beloved film can be sequeled to death by movie studios. We’re looking at you, FAST & FURIOUS! Really, though, there are so many others. The original JOHN WICK, starring Keanu Reeves, was released in 2014. Eleven years later, BALLERINA is the 5th feature film in the franchise, plus there was a limited series on Peacock called THE CONTINENTAL. Reeves is almost 61 years old, so if the executives want to see this franchise keep going, it’s smart to hire a popular young actress like Ana De Armas, who plays Eve in BALLERINA. They’re setting this up to be another franchise like JOHN WICK. And since we know the audience mostly comes for the fight and action sequences, there’s not a huge reason to give these films complicated plots to follow either. The bar is pretty low, and yet BALLERINA still doesn’t match up to it.
The film presents us with Eve’s backstory and how her life intersects with “the world of John Wick,” but most of it doesn’t make a lot of sense. There’s a plot twist thrown in toward the end that goes nowhere and feels completely unnecessary as well. Armas is a capable actress, and the story does do one good thing by her: It shows that it doesn’t matter that Eve is not as tall or strong as Wick is – She can equal or best just about anyone by playing into her advantages and smarts. Legendary actors Angelica Huston and Gabriel Byrne are thrown into the mix, but even they can’t add very much bite to this poor script.
So what does work? As I mentioned earlier, there is a fight scene unlike any I’ve witnessed before on screen. It not only feels fresh and original for this franchise, but it also amps up the danger factor in a world built around assassins. This scene alone is worth the price of admission if that’s what you’re looking for. And with all of the terrible things going on around us in the world, especially the type of shit women have to put up with lately – Well it was nice to sit back and watch a woman, especially a Latina, kick one guy’s ass after another.
BALLERINA is playing exclusively in theatres.
