After a topsy-turvy production process, the next iteration of the John Wick franchise has arrived. Taking place mainly between the events of John Wick 3: Parabellum and John Wick Chapter 4, Ballerina introduces us to Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a young woman who was orphaned after witnessing her father’s death. After being taken in by the group of assassins call the Ruska Roma, Eve is trained as both a ballerina and a deadly assassin. While out on the job, she runs into a member of the shadowy group behind her father’s death and sets out to exact revenge, even going against her adopted family and assassin home.
It has been a couple of years since John Wick last graced the big screen and as we ponder his possible return, what that meant for this style of action in the interim has been up in the air leading up to this film’s release. Now that it is here, it can be revealed that Ballerina credibly picked up the torch from its predecessor and continued the high octane action set pieces that made the John Wick franchise famous. While the film begins with some character introduction and story establishment, including a 15 minute flashback scene for Eve, the action steadily builds from the late first act through the end of the film and by the third act is what the audience has come to expect from a John Wick movie. It’s gory, quick, well choreographed, and features some quality cinematography alongside moments that are sure to elicit cheers and grins, which I’ll avoid spoiling here. But the ante is upped in many ways in Ballerina when it comes to the fights, including a heater in the third act that you’ll know when you see.
What always set the John Wick franchise apart from its predecessors and redefined modern action films was the hyper realism of the action itself and how its protagonist operated and was portrayed within its set pieces. John would accumulate wounds, take vicious hits and bumps, and turn into a bloody mess while shooting his way through copious amounts of bad guys rather than being an untouchable killing machine as most traditional action heroes have been. This gritty realism that added in those films’ immersion has smartly been transferred to Ballerina as well, providing a grounded take on what a female assassin would look and fight like. Eve is a petite but well trained fighter and killer and her style as an assassin takes that into account with the film itself providing background for the character that explains her skills despite her physical disadvantages.
The audience is shown Eve being trained to be an assassin for the Ruska Roma, learning how to shoot, but also how to use her feminine wiles to make up for what she lacks in size and stature. It’s an acknowledgement of her disadvantages that many modern action films ignore altogether at the expense of full immersion for some viewers. Watching a 5’6, 115 pound woman grapple with and toss three six-foot plus, 200 plus pound men in fights has become a trope that is as common as it is inexplicable. Ballerina addresses the real world physical inequity, while building a believable explanation and world around it.
Indeed, Ballerina also excels at continuing the John Wick franchise’ penchant for quality world building by expanding its world of assassins through a deeper look into how assassins are trained and unleashed as it delves more deeply into the Ruska Roma and by introducing the new Assassin cult offshoot as well as new locales around the world. It effectively builds out the world we grew to know in the previous films and establishes even more rich lore to be explored in the future. This franchise has quietly been masterclass in steadily and effectively building out a world within a film franchise and that only continues with this installment. Ballerina is entertaining and action-packed, a worthy entry into the world of John Wick and of the time of any moviegoer.
Image: Lionsgate
