Explosive
Summary
Ballerina delivered everything you could want from a John Wick movie and his role is sizaeable too rather than just a cameo. The action is fantastic and the pacing mostly faultless. I have a few niggles, but this is still a must-see for action fans and one of the best action movies of the year.
Plot: An assassin trained in the traditions of the Ruska Roma organization sets out to seek revenge after her father’s death.
Review: There have been so many trailers and clips released for this movie that I stopped watching them, so I would hopefully still have some surprises left when I actually saw the film. I do go into some minor spoilers ahead so you have been warned.
Ballerina has been arguably my most anticipated action movie of this year with only Nobody 2 matching it in terms of anticipation.
Set between Chapters 3 and 4 of John Wick 3 (kinda?), Ballerina stars Ana de Armas as Eve, an assassin out for revenge against the people responsible for killing her father when she was a child. Raised by the Ruska Roma, Eve is trained from a young age how to fight, save people and kill, making her the ultimate weapon.
We knew the action wouldn’t disappoint in this movie and it has so many awesome sequences I can’t name them all; the flamethrower set-piece is one the best action sequences I’ve ever seen. We also get ice skates used as weapons and of course multiple fight bone crunching scenes. Armas has clearly trained hard for the role putting her all into the action and I love seeing her doing her own stunts too.
This feels like a worthy addition to the world of Wick with the man himself showing up as well as returning characters like Winston (Ian McShane), Charon (the late, great Lance Reddick) and Anjelica Houston who was in the third movie as The Director. Her role is more prominent here and it’s cool to see the training for the Ruska Roma which we saw pieces of in John Wick 3. Norman Reedus joins the cast and it feels like he should have always been a part of this cinematic universe even if it is a smaller role.
I’m a little confused as to the timeline of this movie though; if it’s set between John Wick 3 and 4, he got shot and fell off a building at the end of part 3… then the fourth movie begins with him recovering from his injuries. When is he meant to be doing the things he does in this movie? I’m also confused as to how Daniel Bernhardt is in this movie. Didn’t he die in the first one? Is he playing someone else? Still, it was cool to see him again even if he is playing a different character.
I love how these movies are just absolute cartoons that are so over the top ridiculous and totally embrace it. Bulletproof jackets, people get shot and keep coming and the Baba Yaga can’t be stopped.
Ballerina still has the style and hyper-realism of the other John Wick movies and it’s just so great to see Keanu back. Our audience went crazy when he came on screen.
The pacing is perfect too giving us near constant action from the get go and it rarely relents for more than a few minutes. In that respect it’s one of the best entries in the John Wick universe as it doesn’t overstay its welcome. There isn’t much in terms of plot or character, but since when was that a big deal in this series?
The music is maybe my favourite of the entire John Wick franchise; Tyler Bates returns alongside Joel J. Richard and the score is just epic as are the dance tunes during the obligatory nightlcub battle (which is also awesome).
Overall, Ballerina has been worth the wait with some incredible action scenes, a massive bodycount and a new badass yet appealing lead in Ana De Armas; I would love to see a sequel as I’m sure there are a few more people left in the world she needs to kill. It has its flaws but this is up there with Mission: Impossible and The Accountant 2 for the best action movie of the year title.