"BALLERINA"

John Delia Sr
Jun 9
2 min read

Not the kind of ballerina story that young ballet novices are dreaming about, the film Ballerina would be a complete nightmare for that fan base. The action gets very violent with bloody sequences throughout the 2 hour thriller. For female John Wick fans however, if you can take more punishment after seeing the first 4 chapters of the franchise, this film is right up your ally.

Taking place while John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is defying the International Assassins’ Guild who has a $14,000,000 contract on his life for being a bad boy, the Guild has found a feisty candidate in Eve (Ana de Armas) to possibly replace him. But Eve has other ideas where as a child she saw her father taken down in front of her by the Ruska Roma headed up by Winston (Ian McShane). On a mission for revenge, Eve finds an ally in The Director (Anjelica Huston) who runs IAG.

Len Wiseman who has not been associated with the four John Wick films, and has only directed a few films according to IMDb, takes the reins on Ballerina. I had apprehensions that not having Chad Stahelski, who had made the John Wick franchise a winner, that Ballerina would not have the magic needed to keep the fan base happy. Most of the fighting in the film is very much like John Wick, but less energizing. The combat between Eve and her assailants, sets reminiscent of the Wick films, and a lot of CGI stunts that Reeves would have handled himself, are not as explosive. But that said, the action is non-stop, camera work amazing, and costuming spot on.

If you do go to see the film bring your own cushion as after the first hour flies by, it’s constant repetitive knives out all around. Ballerina has been rated R by the MPAA for strong/bloody violence throughout, and language. Ballerina’s best audience would be the ladies who would like the scenes where Eve beats the crap out of her attacking male assassins. 2 out of 5 stars. “Bring back John Wick from the grave, I already miss him even though he has a cameo role in this one for obvious reasons”.