Following up the stratospheric John Wick: Chapter 4 was always going to be a tall order, so saying Ballerina falls short isn’t so much a criticism as it is an inevitability. That being said, any opportunity to dive into the mystical, violent, and stylish world of John Wick is worth taking. This spin-off, centring on Ana de Armas’s lethal assassin Eve as she sets out for revenge against the cult that killed her father, gets the look right, but the execution is sadly missing.
Ballerina is occasionally overedited, lacking the bravery to experiment with the camera’s position and duration in a way that grips you by the throat. The sense of humour is also often lacking, and the internal logic of the world feels upended – since when have the general public in these films run away at the sight of fistfights and gunfire? Even a perhaps obligatory yet unnecessary appearance from Mr Wick (Keanu Reeves) himself can’t stave off the feeling that this story is surplus to requirements.
De Armas, however, does her emphatic best to answer back. She puts on a stormer, fuelled by a burning rage that culminates in kills brutal enough to make the Baba Yaga wince. She fits seamlessly into this rich, decadent world and holds a magnetic presence that proves as fixating as it is deadly. Director Len Wiseman, meanwhile (in his first film for almost a decade), doesn’t possess Chad Stahelski’s sheen and polish, but proves why he was handed the reins. Such is the quality of the John Wick mythos that even a decidedly average spin-off sticks out amongst the box office crowd.
BALLERINA is in cinemas now.
