After seeing John Wick Chapter 4 in theaters during its opening weekend in 2023, I thought that it was the end of a wonderful action series that was ending on a high note. Flash forward to this past weekend, and I was sitting in a theater watching Ballerina, a film taking place in the John Wick Universe. With this movie taking place between the events of John Wick 3 Parabellum and John Wick 4, it showcases a different part of the John Wick world. The question is, does Ballerina bring the action goods that we have expected from this series? Let’s dive in!

For those who don’t know, Ballerina is the fifth film in the John Wick franchise. The main character this time around is Eve Macarro, played by Ana de Armas. Eve is a new character who was brought up by the Ruska Roma family after the death of her father. Trained as an assassin, Eve begins to prove herself to her adoptive family until she is attacked by assailants bearing a mark that she first saw on the night that her father was killed. Despite warnings from both the Ruska Roma and Winston Scott, Eve starts down a path of discovery and revenge that will eventually put her face to face with none other than the Baba Yaga, aka John Wick.

The bread and butter of the John Wick films has been the creative action sequences. Ballerina shines with unique creativity while also adding a fresh twist compared to everything else that we have seen. Eve Macarro is a physically smaller character than John Wick, and the action sequences require a different approach. The story does a good job of explaining this during her training that she will always be smaller than most of her opponents, so she has to change the rules of engagements in order to win the day. The one standout sequence that was advertised is the flamethrower versus water hose fight that proves to be a satisfying part of a much larger fight.

My personal favorite, which luckily doesn’t get into any spoiler territory, is when Eve Macarro and her assailant are trying to find a gun that is underneath a pile of plates. This leads to a fight that is surprisingly funny for a John Wick film, as the two characters spend about twenty seconds scrambling for the gun while bashing each other over the head with plates. If such a scene happened where John Wick was in Eve Macarro’s situation, it would’ve felt odd, yet Eve Macarro is perfect for it, given the type of fighter that she is and the fact that she is still a novice. 

While characters such as Charon, played by the late Lance Reddick, and Winston Scott, played by Ian McShane are more on the cameo side of things within the plot, John Wick is definitely in the supporting character portion of this film. His introduction at first serves as a connection point between this film and the events of John Wick Chapter 3, he later comes to be a major part in Eve Macarro’s mission of revenge.

When he is present on screen, Keanu Reeves continues to prove that he still has what it takes to play this character that he has developed for over a decade now. Seeing him on the big screen definitely got me excited for the next John Wick film that was announced a bit ago, even though John Wick Chapter 4 ended on quite the high note. 

In terms of pacing, this film does have a few issues. It tries to balance the establishment of Eve Macarro’s character with expanding the John Wick world with a new faction. While these two things are intertwined with each other from the beginning, there are a few things that don’t get enough build-up, and other things that fizzle out before they finally move on. The new faction, only referred to as The Cult, has a lot of screentime but seems like nothing more than cannon fodder throughout the entirety of the film.

Gabriel Byrne plays the Chancellor of The Cult, but he doesn’t seem to have as much of a presence as Michael Nyqvist’s Viggo Tarasov or Bill Skarsgard’s Marquis de Gramont. One thing that works at first but overstays its welcome is the flamethrowers. They are used far more than I expected in the film, and it starts out quite wonderfully. The problem soon becomes that the unique quality of them eventually fades after you see the eighth man roasted alive in slow motion. It luckily has a wonderful end that I talked about earlier in this review.

Overall, Ballerina is a great time. I don’t know if I will put it in the top ten of my films this year, but it is definitely one of the best action films that I have seen this year. It is a film that is worthy of existing in the John Wick series. I don’t know if we will end up getting a sequel to Ballerina, but I hope that we get to see Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro again. If you are looking for more action-packed films, check out my review of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning right here. 

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Ballerina

0.00

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great Action
• Amazing Visuals
• Good Characters
• Wonderful Soundtrack

Cons

• Some Story Beats Linger Too Long
• A Few Goofy Moments