Ballerina

Plot

As a child, Eve Macarro watched her father die during an attempt at her kidnap from a group, who all had a mark branded on their wrists.

She is sent to live with a group called the Ruska Roma, under the tutelage of The Director – where she learns to become a Situationally aware killer.

One day during a hit, she discovers the mark, and journey’s to discover who they are, and who she is.

Direction/Cinematography

Directed by Len Wiseman, who is known for his sound ability behind the camera when it comes to action.

Like the other films in the John Wick franchise, this is colourful, with over the top choreography.

Cinematography is by Romain Lacourbas.

Cast/Characters

Ana de Armas plays eve. She is a solid lead, and has held her own in Hollywood films previously, such as Knives Out. She ups the ante on her action type trope following her turn in No time to die, and has shown that the John Wick franchise might not be dead… even if John… is???

Returning cast within the franchise are Ian McShane as Winston, Anjelica Huston as The Director (getting much more to do here than in other Wick films), Lance Reddick as Charon (who passed away shortly after filming), and Keanu Reeves as John Wick in a handful of scenes.

New cast are Gabriel Byrne, as The Chancellor of a group of assassins living in a small idyllic town (I do miss his Irish accent though, with him putting on a posh British one instead), Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine, an escapee of the town who wants to start a new life, and Catalina Moreno as Lena – one of The Chancellor’s top assassins, who has a secret history with Eve.

Breakdown

For those who are reading this who haven’t seen the John Wick movies and wonder how he is in the film considering how #4 ends (is he dead? isn’t he?) this takes place between the 3rd and 4th films.

From the get go, you know this is going to be of similar vein to the previous John Wick films (the full title of the movie is of course ‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina).

The backstory of Eve (from her POV) where she is almost kidnapped by a group of mercenaries, her father killed while trying to stop them, and going on to the Ruska Roma under the watch of The Director – is quick and to the point. We then see over the ‘years’ her training to become an assassin, and how to be aware of her surroundings. The final test is particularly brutal for a former member of the Ruska Roma.

She then has a similar arc to John Wick (even after meeting him) where she makes a choice to go after the group who killed her father, despite the objections from all those around her.

The cult which is known to the High Table, has its own set of rules, which Eve discovers when she meets a ‘former’ member – Daniel Price – who just happens to be The Chancellors son. Her meeting with him, sets in motion a similar history of her own, when Daniel is ‘seemingly killed’ during a fight protecting his daughter, Ella, and Ella is taken back to the Cult location of Hallstatt in Austria.

There Eve travels to Hallstatt to get back Ella, where she goes on a rampage – having all sorts of shoot outs in all sorts of locations (the armory, the coffee shop etc) – and in doing so brings about a war between the cult and the Ruska Roma (but the director has an idea for peace – get John Wick to kill her!)

The idea that the whole city is in on it, and is out to get her is fun – even if they all are just cannon fodder who attack her one by one and die just as quickly.

I would have liked more back story on the character Lena – as she is revealed *** spoiler *** to be Eve’s sister – who was abandoned by their father when he escaped the Cult years ago – just like Daniel had escaped. This leads to more over the top action (with flame throwers too!). The fight sequences throughout are ‘somewhat’ troublesome – especially given they are big men vs a small woman (but Eve’s training did specify to use this to her advantage!)

Overall

A fairly solid side story to the John Wick franchise, that shows (through Eve) how John Wick became… John Wick.

de Armas is solid as the lead, and holds her own. There are of course the usual ‘plot armor’ fights that are unbelievable, but are great entertainment.

I liked how they left it open for sequels too, so here is hoping for more. This was good, and if you liked John Wick, you should too! The franchise might not be dead… as for John Wick though????

3.5/5

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