Ballerina Review: Low Expectations Definitely Help Combat High Franchise Standards For The John Wick Spinoff

I try and go into every movie with an objective perspective as a means of keeping myself open to surprises both positive and negative… but I am an ordinary human, and it’s literally my job to be aware of how titles get developed and the ups and downs they go through being made. I maintain that I am generally able to not let expectations wholly color my opinions, but I am also cognizant when a production flies up a string of red flags. It’s inevitable that information like that stays at the back of mind when taking in a new release.

My experience watching director Len Wiseman’s Ballerina is a textbook example of this internal conflict. I am a big fan of the John Wick franchise that has birthed this spinoff, with an emphasized appreciation for both the stylized action and the surprisingly engaging worldbuilding – and that fanhood means that I have been acutely aware that this is a movie that went through principal photography nearly three years ago and has spent significant time since then undergoing major reshoots. When a movie gets constantly delayed because it needs to make serious pivots away from the vision that initiated its creation, the end result is not typically a feature that gets labeled with words like “masterpiece.”

As I sat and waited in the theater for Ballerina to start, my attitude amounted to “fear the worst, hope for the best.” I mentally set a low bar, and ultimately, it proved low enough for the action film to step over it. On a narrative and character level, the film skates on doing pretty much the bare minimum (perfect example: it never actually provides a name for the antagonist cult that the hero is targeting for revenge), but when it comes to the ass-kicking, it doesn’t skimp, and it provides satisfying thrills.

Weaving through the established John Wick canon, the film introduces protagonist Eve Macarro as a young girl (Victoria Comte) living on the run with her rogue mercenary father (David Castañeda), and she winds up seeing him killed by a mysterious man named the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) and a group of trained soldiers who accuse him of betrayal. Orphaned, Eve is helped by Winston Scott (Ian McShane) – a friend of her father’s – and he has her initiated into the Ruska Roma assassin guild in New York City.

Twelve years later, Eve (Ana de Armas) is on the verge of completing her training, and after having an encounter with the legendary John Wick (Keanu Reeves) – a moment set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum – she is sent out for her first mission. Never far from her mind, however, is her desire to find the group responsible for her father’s murder, and when she finally gets a lead, her loyalty to the Ruska Roma is tested as she must seek vengeance without the guild’s approval.

Ballerina sports a too-basic revenge plot that never independently gets exciting.

Reaching for a comparison, I can say that Ballerina is the movie that I thought John Wick: Chapter 2 was going to be when I first saw it in 2017. With the action in the franchise’s seminal film receiving overwhelming acclaim, I was apprehensive that the sequel was going to put a much greater emphasis on cool set pieces and render the big picture dynamics of the assassin-filled world as an afterthought – and I was blissed out when that apprehension turned out to be needless.

It can be said that Ballerina doesn’t ignore the unique qualities of the John Wick world, and it does do some scope-expansion for the canon, but it’s also by far the most undercooked work in the franchise.

The movie’s best idea is the cult run by The Chancellor, which seems like an ordinary European mountain village community until it’s revealed that every man and woman is an armed killer, but it’s hung at the end of what is otherwise a flimsy and overly basic revenge plot. Because of the overt effort to fit Ballerina into the continuity like a puzzle piece, the story takes far too long to get on its feet (it’s not until about 45 minutes into the runtime that Eve starts on her big mission), and all of the twists the film attempts to employ feel like first thoughts and fail to carry any weight.

Ana de Armas shows off some serious skills in set pieces up to the John Wick standard.

Be it because of an unimpressive shooting script or because of the extensive reshoots, Ballerina doesn’t build much of a narrative, but it is able to successfully hang a bunch of on-brand action on to it, and that prevents walking away from the movie overly disappointed. Franchise trademarks provide the framework for the set pieces, with firefights playing out in hotel suites and neon-bathed dance clubs, and the skilled choreography is brilliant.

All 5’6” of Ana de Armas doesn’t make her much a physically imposing threat, but Eve is trained to take every advantage given to her in an altercation, and it’s a joy to watch her get creative – from crotch hits to smashing plates to unleashing the full fury of a flamethrower. Within the canon, it’s an ideal mix of familiar and new, and following the skills she previewed during her quick role alongside Daniel Craig’s James Bond in No Time To Die, de Armas proves herself to be an exceptionally capable action star in her own right.

Arriving a couple months after Lionsgate’s announcement regarding an ambitious expansion of the John Wick world (including John Wick: Chapter 5, a Donnie Yen-directed Caine spinoff, and an animated prequel), Ballerina isn’t quite a “best foot forward” feature arriving at a critical juncture, but the saving grace is that it’s not the disaster that many have fretted while it’s long been awaiting release. Like a battle featuring a flamethrower vs. a firehose, high franchise standards clash with low expectations and the result is tepid but fine.