Some Great Action Scenes Can’t Save This Dull John Wick Spin-Off

Finally, here is a film that answers the question: “What would happen if two people were running the flame throwers with each other?” In “Ballerina”, things take an extremely jumped start, walking with an almost alarming dull. And then, suddenly, “Ballerina” finds her place and begins to release a deliciously absurd action scene after the other. The main thing: whenever the film leans in action, it is an explosion. Whenever he slows down so that the characters provide a dull exhibition of global construction, it is an absolute slog likely to put you in a coma. Perhaps all the action will be sufficient for certain viewers, and I admit that there are several violent scenarios here which made me laugh with Glee and appreciate their inventiveness. But my God, all that surrounds these action scenes is a real obstacle, guy.

As marketing clearly does it, “Ballerina” is a spin-off of the franchise “John Wick” (the posters go so far as to give the film the extremely clumsy title of the world of John Wick: Ballerina “, even if this title never appears on the screen). Each trailer placed the front and the center of the monosyllabic assassin of Keanu Reeves, as if he were a main actor of the story. To be fair, John Wick ends up playing a more important role in the film’s final than I expected, but it is hardly more than a glorified cameo. However, I understand why Reeves is slapped everywhere in the trailers: we love it.

The “John Wick” films work for many reasons – the action is great, the cinema is elegant and exciting, and there is an increasingly complex tradition to end. But let’s be honest: the biggest draw of these films is to watch Keanu Reeves kill a bunch of people. We don’t really care about mythology – we care about looking at Keanu Reeves in the middle of all this. This is a hypothesis that the franchise has already proven: after all, when when someone dates back to the Spin-Off Reevesless series TV series “The continental”? Did you even remember this existing? Probably not.

While Reeves obtains a few moments to shoot pistols in “Ballerina”, the film also tries to launch the franchise in a new direction with a new main character, the Macarro Eve by Ana de Armas. On his credit, from Armas, an attractive charismatic interpreter, is very capable here: we buy it completely by kicking in the always loving shit of a series of names without name as it sculpts a bloody path through the film. But “Ballerina” does not have the opera chaos, almost mythical which made Wick films so memorable. Ironically, having reeves appearing throughout the “ballerina” serves as a distraction. The story of John Wick was so clear, so concentrated in his own films that it really does not make much sense for him to be here. It seems very unlikely that he does not care about the events that take place in “Ballerina”. Why not leave our new heroine Eve to have the spotlight in her own story? Probably because this story is not so interesting.

Like “John Wick”, “Ballerina” uses revenge as its launch. When Eve was a child, his father was murdered by a mysterious man played by Gabriel Byrne. Orphan, Eve is collected by the assassins who like rituals known as Ruska Roma, and raised as part of a ballet school which teaches its students to dance both And Kill People (this organization, led by a game Anjelica Huston, was presented in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “Ballerina” takes place between the events of this film and “John Wick: Chapter 4”). Eve grows to be a highly qualified murderer / bodyguard and apparently forget everything to avenge the murder of her father … until a random meeting shot her again.

All this takes place in the first hour of the film and these are so tedious and heavy stuff from the exhibition that I found myself sink in my seat. Is it Really What do you want to give us, movie? This chore? I’m sorry, but have characters from the wick like the continental owner of Ian McShane Winston and The late, Grand Lance Reddick While Charon, the concierge of the hotel, Show Up does little but reminds us of other films. But everything is not lost, and “Ballerina” finally begins to vibrate when he has been getting involved in a series of increasingly bizarre (complementary) action scenes.

In a sequence, Eve fights a series of bad guys using nothing other than a hand grenades, and I have to admit: I have never seen this in an action film before, and it’s fun to watch (at some point, she blocks a grenade in a poor guy’s mouth and then uses a metal door to protect himself while he explodes). Ditto at a time when Eve and another character begin to break the dinner plates on the head of the other as if they were in the middle of a three -stooges sketch (the Stooges even get a cry in the film). The action is really exciting (although I have to wonder how many things have been drawn by The director credited Len WisemanAnd how much was created for Reshoots undertaken by the filmmaker of the franchise “John Wick” Chad Stahelski), but there is really not enough to keep the “ballerina” afloat.

There are interesting ideas here and there. The character of Byrne, called the chancellor, leads a whole city Lots of assassins who are part of a cult, and the idea of ​​a cult in the complicated and labyrinthine world of “John Wick” is potentially exciting. Unfortunately, the script, credited with Shay Hattten, has no interest in exploring whoever they are or what they want. Byrne is a wonderful actor and he is properly grumpy here, but he has absolutely nothing to work with it. Above all, it is to complain.

As for Eve, it is a bit dull, although Armas does its best to solve this problem. John Wick was a fascinating character because Reeves made him so stoic and mysterious. Of course, he was looking for bloody revenge on the murder of a cute dog, but he was also struggling with sorrow and decades of violence. We can feel the weight of the world press the shoulders of Reeves. Eve, on the other hand, is in a way a virgin slate. John Wick managed to feel complex while saying very few words; Eve speaks more but appears to be rather unidimensional. I fully believed that she was able to beat people, I couldn’t find her so convincing.

“Ballerina” constitutes a contradictory experience. Many and many times, I thought that the film had lost me – only for a sequence of intelligent action, funny and well staged to arrive suddenly and kick my ass. The end result gave me a little cervical boost: I went not to take advantage of the film at the time of my life in a fraction of a second, then come back again.

Finally, it all started to wear a little thin. I know Lionsgate is hell on maintaining the universe “John Wick” in life (They plan to make a whole new film with Reeves Even if “John Wick: Chapter 4” looked like the perfect end of the character’s story), but “ballerina” suggests that it is only so far that you can stretch this premise before everything is starting to become expired.

This does not help the cinema is often flat. The films “John Wick”, in particular “John Wick: Chapter 4”, are visual parties with photos that cut my breath. “Ballerina” is surprisingly bland to watch. Of course, it’s very fun to watch the magnificent assassin Ana de Armas take a flame thrower and burn guys to a crisp, but a film featured such a exciting concept should not be so forgettable.

/ Film assessment: 5 out of 10

“Ballerina” opens the rooms on June 6, 2025.