Ballerina - Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick” element shines bright but this one belongs to Ana De Armas’ fury and fire.

4 out of 5

The John Wick franchise has expanded once again. After The Continental TV Series, we now have Ballerina. While the character of Wick does appear here (not a spoiler - he's in the trailer), the film is led by Ana De Armas as Eve, the Ballerina of the title. The character first appeared in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, played by Unity Phelan. Set between the third and fourth film in the main franchise, the plot follows Eve as she sets out on her journey to avenge her father’s murder.

The film does take a while to get going, but when it does, watch out. Anyone expecting to see a retread of the four John Wick movies with a female lead is in for a shock. Eve isn’t like John Wick at all. Instead, she is a vengeful female gunning for those who killed her father. While throwing us back to what made us love the four John Wick movies, her moves are nothing like his. When we meet her as an adult, Eve is training to become an assassin and failing miserably. Her ballerina moves she can’t get right, she cannot beat her male opponent in training, and she fails constantly in protecting her ward in combat training. Her mindset is to defeat her opponent fairly and compete with a male. However, her skills improve markedly when told to fight like a woman. Instead of trying to match and compete, she uses her head and her own mindset and no longer plays fair. Suddenly, she becomes lethal, a skill she demonstrates on her first assignment. Now, we are thrust into the world of Wick, but Eve isn’t as quick as Wick or has his fighting prowess. But her moves are as deadly. From someone who is meek and fears she won’t make it, she turns into a killer who uses everything and anything that she can to get the job done. A scene between her an her opponent when he has a flame-thrower adn she has a fire hose is breath-taking.

The delightful Ana De Armas completely nails it as Eve. When she begins fighting and killing, the actress has her foot on the gas and rarely lets it off. Anyone who saw her so brief appearance in No Time To Die as Paloma will know what she is capable of. But she displays a prowess here that is stunning. It feels as if she is the natural successor to Keanu Reeves’ Wick, the character who could potentially carry the franchise forward. From her charming natural ability to being willing to get into the trenches and giving the action scenes her all, the actress has us hooked.

Her graceful moves are exactly like a ballerina’s in a dance of death, which is more than you’d think. From around a quarter of the way in until almost the end, the actress punches, kicks, shoots, stabs, burns, and blows up over half of the cast. She also does it with subtle humour that we wouldn’t expect. Ana De Armas proves she is an action heroine and a superb actor in her own right. Even in her later interactions with John Wick, she more than holds her own. If there is to be a sequel (and I’m betting there will be), the actress will further cement her reputation as someone to be reckoned with.

Keanu Reeves gets an extended cameo as the dog-loving killer. We get a reprise of a scene from Chapter 3 earlier, before the character vanishes again until three-quarters of the way through the proceedings. He is toned down slightly when he reappears, but he is still John Wick! And then we get what we want, Reeves and Wick showing us what we’ve missed. It is sadly a brief sequence, but Reeves proves he is the glue that holds the franchise and its spin-offs together. The already-announced John Wick 5 will see the character return, but I hope that Reeves and Ana De Armas get more prolonged interactions in that film. Maybe see them fight side-by-side. Based on what we see here, it is a must.

Once again, the returning cast is brilliant in their roles. Anjelica Huston, as The Director, expands her role, delving more into her backstory and how she knows and uses Wick. As head of the Ruska Roma, The Director oversees everything, from the training of her charges to the underhanded and shady understandings she has with other factions and cults. Expanding the character shows her as a double-dealing, nasty woman, strong but heartless at times. Her coldness later on, when discussing killing Eve, is chilling. Her straightforward way of ordering the death of one of her own to keep peace comes across as uncaring, like she would toss a tissue into the bin without a thought. Anjelica Huston puts in a powerhouse performance.

Ian McShane returns as Winston, and immediately, we recognise the warm feelings we have for the character. Seeing Winston for the first time is like greeting an old friend we haven’t seen in ages. He is a vital component in Eve’s journey and her future. McShane is always likeable, and he continues to be here. The late Lance Reddick as Charon gets his swansong here, and we feel saddened at Charon’s eventual fate in Chapter 4 while also grieving the loss of such a fine actor. The seeds of Charon’s demise are sown here, making us sad as we know he will die shortly. Again, like McShane, Reddick is wonderful here, showing us that we will miss not only his character but his acting ability and likability as a human, too.

The new additions are a mixed bag. Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine, a mysterious man, plays a vital role in the film, but his screen time adds up to around ten minutes, not enough time for him to make a big impression on us. However, we want to know more about him and his backstory. His character could be in line for a spin-off movie of his own.

Gabriel Byrne as The Chancellor, the film’s main antagonist, who leads a town against Eve, is a weak villain, sadly. He does do some nasty things, orders the deaths of many people and orchestrates many of the film’s events. But the character is never fully fleshed out, coming across as paper-thin and a very cheap Bond villain rip-off. We are not convinced he is someone as powerful as the film makes him out to be. Here lies a problem. The film needs a good villain to sustain it. Byrne isn’t it. It isn’t his fault, as the actor gives it his all here. The character is poorly written, thought out and presented.

Ballerina is a solid and delightful addition to the franchise. Ana De Armas kicks ass throughout and Keanu Reeves kills it again as John Wick. It justifies its existence while opening the franchise up to more differing stories. As expected, Wick’s shadow hovers over the film and its proceedings, haunting the film slightly. But the film manages to stand on its own two feet, making itself heads and shoulders above other films of its ilk. As the first cinematic spin-off, it can’t quite match what has gone before it, but it doesn’t have to. This ISN’T a John Wick movie; this is about Eve, the Ballerina of the title and the start of her journey. Sure, she can meet up and fight alongside Wick later, but for now, this is her movie. She comes out fighting and hardly stops and you’ll never look at a pair of ice skates in the same way again, that’s for sure.