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| Images courtesy of Lionsgate |
The John Wick franchise gets its first cinematic expansion in this week's release of Ballerina, Ana de Armas' first time at bat leading a full-on action spectacle. The long gestating movie is finally here to take over the weekend box office and prove the staying power of this brand.
The film which takes place during the timeline of John Wick 3: Parabellum, is no departure from this series typical fare. If you go in expecting anything new, you'll probably be disappointed. Other than an amazing battle scene with flamethrowers and some cool scrolling action scenes, this fifth chapter in the Wick universe carries the trends of its former entries and doesn't really break any new ground other than letting Armas kick ass and take names. At times, her unrelenting power is unbelievable. As the movie rolls on, she makes it work as she gets more comfortable in the role.
Getting through the first act is a rather tiresome slog. We get a very marginal backstory for Armas' Eve Macarro, a child brought into the dark world of assassins via a soap-operish story. It trudges along through long winded exposition and training montages. Ballerina does nothing new for this sub-genre but absolutely allows Armas some room to expand her horizons out of drama and into the realm of kicking ass over and over again. This is another bullet ballet featuring unending sequences of gun play, knife wielding and sad action bros in black being gutted and maimed by girl power. Despite its wonky premise and familiar pacing, Ballerina fits right at home with the Wick flicks.
You really have to set reality aside with these movies. Escapism can be fun. But the sheer amount of violence out in the open becomes way too unbelievable at times. And damn, how many assassins are there in this world? And all this is happening in public with almost zero casualties.
Len Wiseman (the Underworld series) takes over directorial duties from Chad Stahelski on Ballerina. Apparently, Stahelski was brought back onboard to assist in aligning the stylistic approach to fighting in the film. And it works. The movies line up cinematically and truly have the same look and feel. The narrative may be like twenty other movies about young ladies brought up to be death dealers, but overall, it just works, especially as an extension of the other four chapters. And of course, the appearance of one Keanu Reeves ties it all up nicely with a bloody bow.
Despite some repetitious plot lines and convoluted writing, Ballerina is a blast to the face with grenades, flamethrowers, automobile carnage, hand to hand combat and one Ana de Armas oozing with action swagger. There will quite obviously be a sequel. The only hope is that they let the next one breathe a little bit and perhaps try to let Ana really evolve into this role. She has the right dynamic and athleticism for this role. Bring it.
-CG