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Ahead of its June 6 launch, the John Wick spin-off Ballerina (full title: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina) was affected by adverse rumors. The film was filmed in late 2022, however there was further taking pictures in 2024, main some to invest that what was initially filmed was a catastrophe. It was whispered (slash reported on blogs) that director Len Wiseman had been quietly changed by John Wick director Chad Stahelski, and that the movie’s studio, Lionsgate, demanded extra Keanu Reeves (who performs prodigious murderer John Wick) to make a troubled movie extra sellable.
Wiseman has since dispelled these rumors, saying that what had been referred to as “reshoots”—a time period which may recommend a defective authentic product—had been truly additive components greenlit by a studio that was very excited concerning the challenge’s potential. Wiseman clarified that Stahelski solely stepped in as a result of Wiseman had a well being scare. We’ll select to just accept that narrative—particularly after seeing the movie, which can be foolish and nonsensical, however can be numerous enjoyable.
Let’s get to maybe essentially the most urgent query about Ballerina, even when it’s maybe a bit unfair to the titular character: simply how a lot is John Wick within the film? Reeves’s look within the movie—which is about between the third and fourth John Wicks—is greater than mere cameo, however removed from a real supporting flip. He’s maybe within the realm of a “with” or “and” credited efficiency from an enormous title who pops in to do just a few scenes.
We first see John on the ballet-assassin academy the place grieving-furious orphan Eve (Ana de Armas) is coaching. They have a quick change and, we assume, that will probably be it when it comes to John’s involvement. But he returns later, for a small however not insignificant piece of motion that, sure, could solely exist to be spliced into the movie’s trailer, however doesn’t really feel too tacked-on. Wiseman and author Shay Hatten discover a solution to insert John into the narrative in a largely credible approach. Though, actually, what does credible imply within the ridiculous and ever-expanding universe of this franchise?
The John Wick sequels develop extra ornate as they go, introducing heaps of mythology—about historic murderer clans, rituals and rites, guidelines and rules—to what was as soon as, at its inception, a imply and environment friendly little factor. Ballerina solely additional bloats the lore, folding in an entire new sect of individuals—a sort of killer commune-cult—whose existence strains even the bounds of this already ludicrous collection. Yet one fortunately trots together with Ballerina because it ventures into absurdity. Its silliness is, no less than, compellingly rendered.
It helps immensely that de Armas is such a limber, assured motion performer. We bought a too-brief style of her chops within the James Bond movie No Time to Die—her single sequence is the spotlight of that in any other case moribund journey. Ballerina blesses us with two hours of de Armas’s bodily prowess, by some means each loose-limbed and crisp. She’s a pure interpreter of Wick-ian combat choreography and gun-fu. But it’s not simply weapons she’s adept with. Early within the movie, an teacher tells Eve that there’ll at all times be male opponents stronger than her, so she should get inventive and underhanded in battle. Ballerina then exhibits us the giddy outcomes of that coaching, as Eve turns all method of implements and bodily circumstances into lethal brokers.
The grand set piece of the movie is a lone lady’s siege of a snowy Alpine city seemingly completely populated by educated murderers. It’s a chronic, multi-tiered parade of carnage, culminating in what I believe is the primary flamethrower duel I’ve ever seen on movie. While Ballerina can typically be extra demure about killing than the John Wick movies—Eve exhibits a little bit of mercy right here and there, although John just isn’t completely with out conscience both—throughout this wintertime melee, Eve will get to killing in brutal, relentless style. It’s a gnarly good time, staged with simply sufficient mordant comedy to correctly contextualize all the things as current firmly within the realm of make-believe.
By the top, it has grow to be abundantly clear that Lionsgate doesn’t imply for Ballerina to be a mere spin-off anomaly. The movie is pitched because the kick-off to a total new collection, by which Eve is on the run from the individuals she’s grievously wronged (although, they shot first) and her legacy turns into ever extra entwined with that of John Wick, of Ian McShane’s Winston, of Anjelica Huston’s shiftily ambivalent Director. Based on this primary propulsive and sprightly movie, I warily await no matter comes subsequent within the Ballerina saga. But if we ever see a film title beginning with “From the World of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” it will likely be excessive time to reassess.