Ballerina Review
The word franchise is bandied around so frequently in Hollywood these days that it’s never really surprising when studios jump on the bandwagon to expand, elongate, and, for better or worse, boost their product and their cash registers. Well, that’s now the case for John Wick – or, as it’s now been monikered, “From The World Of John Wick” – with the action thriller series, which seldom made it to the screen without budget problems and planning issues, now so much of a global phenomenon that spin-offs were inevitable. But what about the ending to John Wick 4, we hear you cry? Well, there’s a rhyme and reason for it all, but ultimately, is Ballerina – and a franchise expansion – worth it?
Taking place for the most part between John Wick 3 & 4, the film sees Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), daughter of a slain father who was part of an underground cult, seek justice against those who took him from her. She soon meets Ian McShane’s Winston Scott, owner of the monolithic hotel The Continental, who takes her to train with the Ruska Roma, a group of assassins who are some of the best in the world. Through her tests and initial assignments, she begins to creep closer to the truth, but all-out war between uneasy alliances might soon be on the cards, as well as a potential run-in with the Baba Yaga himself, John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
It was always going to be a mammoth undertaking to even scratch the surface of what the Wick films had provided to audiences, let alone keeping up with or, indeed, outperforming it. When the word first broke that Ballerina would be helmed by Len Wiseman, the director of Underworld, Die Hard 4.0, and the disastrous remake of Total Recall starring Colin Farrell, a sharp intake of breath reverberated through the fanbase. Could this be something of a redemption for a filmmaker who hasn’t made a feature since that horrific reimagining? Could he live up to the work done by Chad Stalhelski, Reeves and company without them there to guide him?
Simply put, no, so much so that rumours were rife before release that Stalhelski had to do extensive reshoots – “new shoots” said Ian McShane – because the film was simply not up to standard and lacked the same quality and expertise of the rest of the franchise, really undercuts any positivity the film might have. The action has none of the same beauty, control or confidence as its siblings, moving from one uninspired set piece to another as the multiple reshoots and poor editing stick out like a throbbing sore thumb. Even the excitement of having Reeves’ cameo quickly wears off when you realise just how supremely anticlimactic it is, almost as if he knew better.
De Armas, who has always been an actor willing to go above and beyond to try to make her films work (see her excellent turn as Marilyn Monroe in Andrew Dominik’s polarising Blonde, for example) and there can be no denying that she brings her all to this and then some. Graceful, elegant, yet decisive, her Ballerina is a formidable opponent for those she seeks vengeance on, but like the film itself, is let down by its hollow, vapid script and uninspired direction. It’s sadly one fight that de Armas and Ballerina cannot win, no matter how much she tries.
★★
In UK cinemas on June 6th / Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves / Dir: Len Wiseman / Lionsgate / 15
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