If you didn’t see “Ballerina,” or as it’s technically titled, “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” you’re not alone. I’m a massive “John Wick” fan — I think the first movie is one of the best movies ever made — and even I didn’t see it in theaters. But when I heard it was arriving on HBO Max, I decided it was finally time to check it out.
Having seen it for myself, I can confirm that this is, in fact, a “John Wick” movie. In fact, it even has John Wick in it, with Keanu Reeves making a couple of appearances throughout the film.
Article continues below
‘Ballerina’ feels like ‘John Wick Lite’
If you’re totally unfamiliar with this movie, it’s a spinoff of the “John Wick” franchise. Because Wick himself is in it, it’s technically also a prequel and a sequel; it’s set during the events of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “John Wick: Chapter 4.”
But Wick isn’t the protagonist of this film. Instead, Ana de Armas stars as Eve Macarro, an assassin whose father was a Ruska Roma assassin, and whose mother, it is revealed, was part of a cult of assassins living in the Austrian Alps. It’s that second branch of the family that becomes a problem, as in the beginning of the movie, the cultists, led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), find and kill Eve’s father for leaving the cult.
From here, we begin a quest for revenge, which is nothing new for the “John Wick” franchise. The first movie literally is about a man going on a killing spree because someone killed his dog. But for some reason, this time around it’s just not quite as compelling. Maybe it’s because this movie focuses on the story more than “John Wick ” does, so the simple revenge story grows a bit stale. Maybe it’s because the story lacks mystery; there’s a twist towards the end that you feel like is supposed to be a big deal, but you can also sort of see coming.
Regardless, the story of a “John Wick” movie shouldn’t really matter if the action is there. These Gun-fu movies are all about the kills.
Unfortunately, this movie’s action set-pieces start relatively tame, and the direction feels off. The way scenes are shot and cut, it almost feels like they’re working around de Armas’s (potential) shortcomings, which is odd, because she both does many of her own stunts in this movie and she was chosen to star in this movie partially because of her action chops that were on full display in the James Bond movie “No Time to Die.”
That said, once we get to the Alps, the action does improve, as does the movie. The kills get better, and there’s more unique weaponry used (my favorite is when she starts killing people with an ice skate). There’s one sequence where she’s fighting with a katana, and finally, you start to feel the fight choreography is on par with a mainline “John Wick” movie.
Verdict: ‘Ballerina’ is the worst ‘John Wick’ movie, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad ‘John Wick’ movie
I know I just made it sound like it’s a slog to get to the good parts of the movie, but that’d be a harsh assessment of the film. This movie is perfectly fine to watch (and looks gorgeous if you watch it in 4K), and it’s barely over two hours long. It’s just not as engaging as a mainline “John Wick” movie.
But again, just because this is the worst “John Wick” movie doesn’t mean it’s bad.
Will I reach for it again any time soon? Probably not, but that’s because I can just watch “John Wick” instead. I have no regrets about finally checking out “Ballerina.” There are a few epic fight sequences worth the price of admission. Since you’re getting it included with your HBO Max subscription, it’s still worth streaming if you’re interested in watching it.
Stream “Ballerina” on HBO Max now