Posted by I’m a massive fan of the John Wick movies, so while I wasn’t expecting a new spin-off movie in the franchise, I was excited once I heard that Ballerina was coming. I finally got around to seeing it the other day, and I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
The story follows Eve Macarro as she seeks revenge on the people that took her father, and chance at a normal life by extension. The movie opens with a young Eve and her father getting attacked by a man who’s revealed to be Eve’s grandfather, and the leader of a violent cult that kind of coexists with the High Table and other families. After her father’s death, Winston takes Eve to the Ruska Roma where she begins her training as a ballerina/assassin. While completing jobs, she has a run-in with an assassin bearing a scar that she recognizes from the men who attacked her father. Eve sets out on a quest for answers as she tries to track down this cult despite the emphatic dissuasions from those around her. She has some run ins with the cult while pursuing a lead through Daniel Pine, a former member of the cult trying to get out to protect his daughter. Eve eventually succeeds in tracking the cult down to the small town of Hallstatt, where it’s revealed that the entire town is a part of this cult. Eve then has to fight off the entire town, and a reluctant John Wick who’s sent to take her out on behalf of the Ruska Roma. She eventually succeeds in killing her grandfather and freeing Ellie, Daniel Pine’s daughter. The movie ends with Eve seeing a new bounty placed on her head.
Overall, the story isn’t new or groundbreaking. That being said, its parallels thematically with the main John Wick movies very well. Eve’s own journey of revenge parallels John as she willingly rejects her current place in life to seek revenge for past wrongs. In fact, one of my favorite scenes is the duel between John and Eve. When I heard John Wick would be back in this movie, I was really nervous that he would be watered down and lose to show off the new talent of the heroine. I was pleasantly surprised when they fought and he absolutely crushed her. Throughout the entire fight, it’s evident that John is in control, yet he’s restraining himself. He keeps trying to talk Eve down and get her to leave Hallstatt alone because he recognizes that she’s walking down the same dangerous path that he let himself get dragged down. And yet she still goes through with it, and suffers the consequences as a result. Similarly, she’s able to help Ellie and get her out from under cult, much like Eve’s own father tried to do when she was a child. It’s really cool seeing all of these thematic parallels and ideas of what could have been if these characters made different choices.
Personally, I’m fine with the story for the most part. Like I said, it’s nothing new or groundbreaking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. I found it cohesive for the most part. It did take a backseat to the action, especially in the third act, but the action is largely the appeal of the movie. And wow was the action good.
The actions scenes in the John Wick franchise have always been slick and fairly realistic. Of course there’s some suspension of disbelief, but the movies are a lot more realistic than other action movies. Ballerina doesn’t disappoint. It’s as stylish and brutal, and creative, as the other movies. In fact, I think the flamethrower duel is one of the best action sequences in the entire franchise. Another really cool element of the movie was seeing John Wick on the other side as he came after Eve. As an audience, we’ve become accustomed to him carving through henchmen, so watching him come after the heroine of the film was a refreshing change of pace, and also helped highlight just how crazy of an assassin he really is. One complaint that I do have is that I wish Eve’s fighting style was a little more graceful and ballerinalike. I heard that she was going to have this more graceful fighting style, much like a ballerina, but to my eyes it seemed like her fighting style was more of the same typical of this franchise.
Another narrative nitpick worth commenting on is the sudden reveal that Eve’s sister is alive and working for her grandfather and the cult. Unfortunately, this revelation is undercut by her getting betrayed and blown up like five minutes after the reveal. It’s so sudden and the movie just doesn’t have enough time to do anything interesting with it. I suppose it does emphasize how awful the grandfather is, but that’s about it.
The cinematography, however, was quite excellent. Some of the shots were just breathtaking. Coupled with the action choreography and setpieces, the visual elements of the film were phenomenal, and just as strong as the other entries in the franchise. My only real complaints boil down to the above nitpick, a bit of uncanny CGI towards the beginning of the movie when Eve’s father is dying, uncanny CGI effects with a car crash, and a particularly unrealistic action sequence involving a belt of grenades and a table as a shield. I can suspend my disbelief, especially when the action is cool enough to warrant it, but sometimes the suspension of disbelief is just too much.
Finally, it’s always interesting to learn more about the world of John Wick. It’s fun seeing new Continental hotels and learning about new factions. However, the actual explanation of the cult is rather… lacking. They’re described as being a separate, yet feared and respected, entity from the rest of the families in the world of the High Table who might hunt people for sport. To be honest, their actual motivations are left undisclosed, aside from their desire to maintain self-sufficiency in an all-encompassing community that its members can’t escape from, and those who try to leave are branded as traitors and ruthlessly hunted down. On the one hand, you can definitely see the cultish behavior. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem that different from families like the Ruska Roma who raise children to become assassins. Though I suppose one central theme is the idea of choice and fate. There’s this overarching question about Eve’s path and whether it was fate or her choice to become an assassin, especially given her sister’s path in the cult and how their father died because he tried to get Eve out of the cult’s grasp. It’s an interesting thematic question that I think could have used a little more fleshing out, but it does provide a bit more depth to the movie than consigning it as a simple revenge action flick.
SPOILERS END
When a new movie in a franchise releases, there’s always the question of “how does it compare to the other movies?” Ballerina is a good movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The action sequences are great. The set pieces are stylish. And the story is decent. I honestly appreciate it a lot due to its thematic parallels with the mainline John Wick movies, but I also acknowledge that the movie has its weaknesses. That being said, I don’t think that “how does it compare to the other John Wick movies” is the right question to ask when evaluating the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed Ballerina in spite of its minor flaws, and I’m just happy to have more good John Wick content. If this is the kind of content we can expect in the future for the world of John Wick, then I’m very excited and optimistic about what’s to come. If you like the John Wick movies or action movies in general, go check out Ballerina.
Broad Scope Entertainment 