Ana de Armas has plenty of ammo in this worthy “John Wick” spin-off.
“Ballerina” is the Ana de Armas action vehicle that neither “Ghosted” nor “The Gray Man” was. And to be honest with you, other than her supporting role in “No Time to Die,” I’ve been looking for a de Armas movie to be as entertaining as “Knives Out” was. “Blonde” was like rape torture porn, “Sergio” was dull,” and “Deep Water” was stupid. But her latest movie knows how to use her talents and not overexploit them. This makes her into an ambitious character.
The backwards subtitle is “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” but I’ll just say “Ballerina” for the rest of this review. This means that this spin-off takes place between the third and fourth chapters, which is why we also see Keanu Reeves back as John Wick, Ian McShane as the Continental Hotel owner Winston Scott, the late Lance Reddick as the concierge Charon, and Angelica Huston as the head of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate codenamed The Director.
It might sound like a gimmick to bring back Reeves in the franchise, since (SPOILER ALERT!!!) Wick died in the last film. But “Ballerina” doesn’t need to act like one; it needs to act like a refreshing vehicle for de Armas. And it works as an introduction to a new face in the franchise.
De Armas plays Eve Macarro, a ballerina assassin, who is seeking revenge against the cult that murdered her father when she was a child. Gabriel Byrne plays the leader known as the Chancellor, who runs a foreign town with no morale. In fact, they’re practically all assassins who seem to be taken from Paul Feig’s mean-spirited comedy “Jackpot,” but are in much better hands. And you know, these people can sense they have an unwelcomed guest, who dresses in black and borrows a stylish car. And that unwelcome guest is Eve.
Before we get to that area, Eve has training to complete, and the message she learns from her mentor Nogi (Sharon Duncan Brewster) about fighting is to “fight like a girl.” I guess we shouldn’t think of this as an insult at this point.
She’s also under the care and training of the Director (Angelica Huston), who warns her not to enter the fight against the Chancellor’s cult. But you know she’s going to ignore her warnings and get herself in dangerous territory, which also includes assassins (some of them played by Norman Reedus and Catalina Sandino Moreno basically on opposite sides of the coin), guns, grenades, and probably the best flamethrower I’ve seen in a long while. No, I don’t just mean any flamethrower. I mean this flamethrower knows how to fight fire with fire.
“Ballerina” is the lesser of the John Wick movies in terms of the screenplay, which seems to be routine with certain formulas. But it still is a worthy addition to the franchise because of the exciting action sequences and how de Armas delivers on her character. The new director this time is Len Wiseman, who also made the “Underworld” movies and “Live Free or Die Hard,” and he enters the genre with a lot of energy.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about what I thought about “Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning.” I was telling her that I had a fun time, but I wish it could have been shorter. She even commented on how less than 3 hours would be too long her to sit in a theater. “Ballerina” is about two hours long, but has better pacing, which helps the main heroine find her targets without jumping to too many conclusions.
There’s a lot of baggage in the “John Wick” franchise, which knows how to be fresh and entertaining. “Ballerina” doesn’t rank with the best sequels, but it does like to try to, and it has fun with it.
