'Ballerina': Ana de Armas Shines in Underwhelming John Wick Spin-Off

PHOTO: Lionsgate

The John Wick franchise has become such a cultural phenomenon that many might forget that it was born from rather humble beginnings. The first film is a relatively simple action film about a man seeking revenge after a group of men rob him and kill his dog. The next three films raise the stakes significantly and flesh out the world that they take place in, building on each other nicely and telling a compelling story in the process. Naturally, the success of the franchise gave way to talks of expansion, with projects being billed as “From the World of John Wick” entering development at Lionsgate shortly after. The first of these was a TV miniseries titled The Continental, which follows the origins of the hotel chain that serves as neutral ground for assassins in the John Wick universe. The series received mixed reviews in the process and didn’t make much of a splash with viewers. Now, Lionsgate is hoping to bounce back from this with Ballerina, a feature film spin-off that takes place in between the third and fourth installments in the John Wick franchise. 

With Ana de Armas in the lead role and Underworld director Len Wiseman at the helm, the film certainly piqued my interest. However, I couldn’t help but feel that there may not be much else to do within the world of John Wick following the fourth film, which had a great sense of finality to it. But with Ballerina being a spin-off, it does give Wiseman and screenwriter Shay Hatten a chance to play around a little and create their own story within the world of the franchise. Sadly, the film doesn’t capitalize on this, giving us a rather generic and predictable revenge plot with garnishes of John Wick related elements here and there. While de Armas is quite good and some of the action sequences are solid, the film is more of a mixed bag. It takes a lot of pages from the John Wick playbook, but it struggles to pull them off and ends up feeling a bit underwhelming. 

The daughter of two assassins, Eve Mocarro (Ana de Armas), narrowly escapes after members of a group called the Cult descend on her house and murder her father. Shortly after, she gets taken in by Continental owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and is brought to the criminal organization known as the Ruska Roma. Eve is given the chance to join them, which she accepts in hopes to avenge her father’s death. Over 12 years, she trains as a ballerina and an assassin, and is driven by her quest for vengeance. After encountering a Cultist while fulfilling one of her contracts, Eve begins to seek out the men who killed her father and must take down a cache of killers in the process.

I can’t fault the film for trying to replicate the John Wick formula, utilizing a more winding plot structure, elements of revenge flicks, and of course, tons of action sequences. The problem is, these things largely work well in the John Wick movies because of the filmmakers behind them and that much of it is tailor made for its star, Keanu Reeves. This is not the case here, as Len Wiseman doesn’t have the eye for action that Chad Stahelski demonstrates in the other Wick movies, and that it doesn’t make any discernible effort to play to Ana de Armas’s strengths. She has action star potential and still kicks some serious butt throughout the movie, but this isn’t quite the starring vehicle she deserves. It is telling that some of the most electric moments of the film are when Keanu Reeves shows up as John Wick himself, as the film is so desperately trying to recapture the lighting in a bottle that the other films in the franchise has. I can understand wanting to keep in line with certain stylistic and story elements, but the film is done a disservice by not attempting to be more of its own thing. Instead, it just feels like more of the same, and lacks a bit of punch as well.

That said, it’s far from the worst thing I’ve ever seen and there are glimmers of a better film scattered throughout. There are some action scenes that are quite good, namely one in the third act involving some flamethrowers. The fighting itself is solid, but it has a tendency to feel repetitive. Many of the fight scenes blend together as a result, with only a couple of setpieces really standing out. However, one of these setpieces feels a bit squandered, that being an early one that takes place partially on an icy floor. There is so much that could have been done to make it fun and look cool, and yet it feels so bland. This is largely due to the camerawork, as well as Wiseman’s direction, which just doesn’t have the energy that the film needs. The action in the film isn’t necessarily bad, but it just isn’t at the quality that I’ve come to expect from the franchise. 

The story structure also feels a bit off, as it feels weighed down by plot details and characters. It’s still easy to follow at its core, but it almost complicates itself for no real reason. The problem seems to be that it is trying to maintain the same level of storytelling found in the later John Wick movies, which isn’t ideal for an origin story. The meandering nature of the John Wick sequels works because they’re building off the simplicity of the first film. When applying this to Ballerina, it just feels a bit overkill. It’s clear that Lionsgate wanted to add more and more to this film so that it would appeal to fans of the franchise, but in reality, the film probably should have been simplified a bit. We are being introduced to a new character, and yet she often gets lost in all of the other plot details. Compare this to the first John Wick, where we get a good idea of who the titular character is and the story feels rather succinct as well. With this film, we don’t know much about Eve other than she’s an assassin that wants revenge. There’s not much that sets her apart from similar characters in other action movies, and the story surrounding her feels pretty derivative. There’s not much here that we haven’t seen before, and the whole thing ends up being rather predictable as a result. 

I can at least say that Ana de Armas makes the best of what she’s given, which is a true testament to her as an actor. I have been a fan of hers ever since Blade Runner 2049, and her involvement in this film gave me a bit of hope for it. Her performance might not fully redeem it, but at least she is able to breathe some life into the character. De Armas definitely has what it takes to be an action star, but the film around her doesn’t exactly meet her on her level. She excels in the action scenes and her characterization is pretty good too. We don’t feel the brunt of her emotional state like we do in John Wick, but we do have small moments where it comes through. I may not be clamoring for a sequel to Ballerina, but I am all for Ana de Armas showing up in more movies, and I certainly would love to see her in another action movie sometime in the future.

Ballerina is a serviceable action film at the very least, but it feels more like a direct-to-DVD movie with some John Wick stuff thrown in than anything else. Some moments are admittedly fun, but there are many moments in the film that come across rather dull. I suppose the film could have been much worse, but because it is so strongly tying itself to the John Wick of it all, I was expecting a bit more from it than what we get. I’m sure that they will end up making a sequel to this, and hopefully they will learn from their mistakes here and deliver a film that serves its star better and has a bit more personality to it. As for Ballerina, it is painfully average, and a bit of a misstep within the world of John Wick.

Rating: 2.5/5