“From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” makes most sense when viewed as intellectual property first and a work of art second. Even the film’s title bears the scars of being optimized within an inch of its life to ensure brand association. The presence of Keanu Reeves’ hitman feels particularly shoehorned into the plot through reshoots overseen by the original series’ director, Chad Stahelski.
There are flashes of filmmaking finesse that made “John Wick” an increasing rarity in Hollywood: a hit theatrical franchise generated from an entirely original idea. But “Ballerina” never escapes feeling like a TV pilot idea contorted into the body of a feature film, as if to avoid the fate of the ill-fated Peacock series “The Continental.” Ultimately, the project is whatever its studio, Lionsgate, needs to be to position itself more favorably for corporate acquisition.
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This Ana de Armas star vehicle is a series of placeholders where these movies usually have punch and panache. Her agile assassin, Eve, originates from Wick’s brush with the Ruska Roma crime family in “Parabellum,” the series’ third film. This outing lightens the focus on the lore of the many bloodlines and institutions vying for domination over the underworld. However, it certainly helps to recognize figures like Lance Reddick’s Charon, Ian McShane’s Winston Scott, and Anjelica Huston’s master manipulator known as “The Director.”
“Ballerina” instead goes heavier on the overarching theme of choice, especially concerning the pipeline of assassins set up by the shadowy clans. The script blows out Eve’s backstory as the childhood survivor of a mercenary attack by Gabriel Byrne’s The Chancellor that claims her father’s life. The Ruska Roma sweeps her into this realm to carry out similar missions against her wishes. Eve is galvanized to persevere through her training in dancing and fighting despite the fact that these criminal operators robbed her of agency over her life course.
Once the film finishes establishing her past, however, it gives the talented de Armas little driving force to work with in the present. Eve can hold her own in a conflict, but her motivation to keep facing off against the ruthless crime families remains largely opaque. Things keep happening to her, not because of her … including two appearances by Reeves as Wick himself. These bailout moments to protect the bankability of “Ballerina” feel like half-hearted efforts by the actor, whose exasperation nearly punctures the character’s Zen screen presence.
Eve merely provides the vessel for discovery and experience of an expanded “John Wick” universe that can play out across multiple other installments. Credited screenwriter Shay Hatten strings the audience along only to get Eve to the starting point of enraged empowerment, where Reeves’ aggrieved dog owner began the saga. The film would have been wise to take the advice that unlocks the indomitable power lurking inside the protagonist and “fight like a girl.” That is to say: lean into one’s strengths rather than trying to match the competition.
“Ballerina” gets the closest to finding that spark of originality in its bawdy take on the franchise’s centerpiece brawls. Rudderless though the film may feel, joyless it most definitely is not. Credited director Len Wiseman cranks up the giddy bloodlust in the action scenes. The designs are wildly creative but teeter a little too close to campy territory to flow cohesively with what came before. He gets close enough to pass as a genuine entry in the “John Wick” world. But like a tiny pebble lodged in a shoe, something slight nags enough to prevent a perfect fit.
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Take, for example, an amusing bit when Eve smacks someone repeatedly with a TV remote, which then causes the channels behind her to flip between various visual influences like the Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton. Similar Stahelski-helmed sequences did not have to settle for winking at their predecessors. He built on them and proved the series’ place as inheritors of a sacred cinematic legacy.
“Ballerina” lacks the soulful inspiration behind its action that made the “John Wick” franchise stand out amidst a sea of sameness. These carefully choreographed expressions of human combat offered an antidote to the CGI-fueled set pieces of superhero movies, which signaled to viewers it was time to power off their brains for a bit. While Stahelski focused on capturing the brilliance of bodies in motion, Wiseman fixates on running up a body count with grenades and flamethrowers. (That’s not to mention the more novel makeshift weapons that Eve fashions to get out of some hairy situations.)
It’s missing the fluidity of action in extended takes and intentional cuts, most likely stemming from a need to bricolage these scenes together from the multiple reshoots. For a film whose title alludes to an art form requiring such lithe movement, “Ballerina” is relatively deficient in any gracefulness. Hatten and Wiseman close some of the gap with an unabashed glee from engineering elaborate, outlandish brawls.
Less committed fans might not mind the expanded repertoire, but die-hards will likely see the spin-off’s approach as sacrificing the core appeal of the series. “Ballerina” is passable as a continuation of “John Wick” mythology. However, it’s not strong enough to organically generate comparable enthusiasm for continued storytelling with this character. [C+]
“From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” opens in theaters June 6 via Lionsgate.