Eve Macarro joins The Continental life of crime with vengeance on the mind in this first spinoff within the John Wick universe.
The John Wick film franchise has been one of the more consistent action series in all of Hollywood cinema as of this writing, although their first foray sans Keanu Reeves as the titular contract killer with The Continental miniseries wasn’t as well received as the saga’s first four movies. Thankfully, its first cinematic spinoff, From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina, is here to right the ship, and despite some uneven direction in the first half, the film remains a serviceable entry to the Baba Yaga’s growing universe through a compelling performance from Ana de Armas, clever worldbuilding, use of culture to tell its story, and of course, hard-hitting action.
Starting during the events of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum, Ballerina follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a woman enlisting in the Ruska Roma, the same organized crime unit in which John Wick learned the way of the assassin, with the intent of achieving vengeance for the murder of her father, brought about in her childhood when a tense conversation between him and Continental Hotel owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane) is suddenly ambushed by a rival faction led by the mysterious Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne).
Throughout her time in the Ruska Roma, Eve is put through arduous physical and mental tests, from assembling and firing a pistol within a short time frame and martial arts training to even the skills of ballerina dancing, from which her Director (Angelica Huston) demands absolute meticulous perfection to the point where Eve delivers it painfully with her own blood. Two months after receiving her first contract job, Eve checks into the Continental hotel with concierge Charon (Lance Reddick, in his final cinematic role) on a mission to kill the peculiar Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus). But what Eve discovers on this assignment sends her on an adventure across continents poised to unearth secrets about her past on her violent path to retribution, crossing paths with her superior, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) along the way.
The most consistently strong elements in the John Wick movies up to this point have been their action sequences, and Ballerina is no different. They may lack the energy and raucous musical score of earlier installments, but smartly grow faster in pace and the stunt work becomes more refined as the film goes along to show Eve’s steady progression in hand-to-hand combat. There are some turns for the absurd and gory as well, but the results amount to fascinating visuals and character moments that show Eve using her intelligence to gain the upper hand in a fight, such as an instance where she fastens a knife to a pistol to create a more dangerous tool, and all the unique ways she has to use hand grenades when they’re the only weapons at her disposal.
To that end, Ana De Armas stole the show in her too-brief role as CIA agent Paloma in No Time To Die, and she pulls out all the stops here as the titular ballerina, both in the fight scenes where she displays Eve’s fury as she struggles to find a way out of a jam when foes crawl out of the woodwork, and in more quiet showcases of nuanced emotions over the course of her Ruska Roma trials that force her to save her own life against a familiar friend now made into an enemy.
Another solid constant throughout the John Wick saga has been its visual splendor, and that’s apparent in Ballerina from the vibrant colors of the neon lights in the nightclub Eve waltzes into on her first commission to the choice of shooting on location in gorgeous, snowy areas of Prague and Budapest. Culture also makes its presence felt as a storytelling motif here as it has throughout this universe, but this time it shows up through references to Swan Lake in the background of various shots, and music cues from the timeless Tchaikovsky ballet to paint Eve as the tragic figure of a woman transforming into something she doesn’t want to become.
Ballerina is a welcome entry to the John Wick canon, but it is still the weakest link of all the series’ theatrical outings, if only because director Len Wiseman doesn’t have the kinetic energy that series mainstay Chad Stahelski brought to the original quadrilogy. The first act shows the circumstances of Eve’s father’s demise, and this predictable sequence moves at a disappointingly sluggish place that takes its time to go into the laborious tribulations of this film’s protagonist. It’s also worth noting that Stahelski was brought in to reshoot some of the action scenes, and his efforts to liven them up are especially apparent in the first half of this movie, as the fight sequences don’t match the pace of Wiseman’s otherwise flat dialogue scenes.
But that proverbial crack in the wall was apparent during John Wick’s first adventure and was filled in due time, so there’s hope for these flaws to be improved upon in the next entry of Eve Macarro’s arc. As for her origin story, though, audiences will be endeared by everything Ana De Armas brings to her lead performance, intrigued by the worldbuilding that creatively expands this universe, and enthralled by the brutal, exhilarating action sequences. This action franchise is a well oiled machine, and to the world of John Wick, Ballerina is a solid addition.