by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $16.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Juliet Doherty, Norman Reedus
Intro:
… may not carry the same direct emotional potency of its bigger brothers, but as an extension of the series’ mythos and as another example of modern action cinema par excellence, it more than delivers.
Still riding on a high after the monumental success of Chapter 4, and finding some respectable expansion with the Continental series, The World of John Wick returns with Chad Stahelski (as producer) and Keanu Reeves (as co-star) still on-hand, albeit to a lesser extent, while the director’s chair has been handed to Len Wiseman, whose work on Underworld shares cultural heritage with the Vampire the Masquerade-isms of John Wick’s world-building, with Ana de Armas cashing in her token for an action lead role that at long bleeding last delivers on the potential that she showed in No Time To Die.
The script by Shay Hatten essentially began life as John Wick fanfiction, inspired by the trailer for Chapter 2 and generating enough buzz to land on the fabled Black List.
While there are reshoot-sized gaps in the story’s muscle sinew here and there, it still finds a sturdy way of expanding on the emotional and moral explorations of John Wick’s own character arc.
Where the main films focused on a killer already neck-deep in the network of the High Table, Ballerina follows someone just beginning their descent, tapping into some hearty fatalism about whether one even has a choice to be involved in this underworld. Given the extent of the film’s climactic set piece, which stretches across the geography (and citizenry) of an entire snowy town, it adds to the chilling entrapment from the conclusion of Chapter 2 along with the stress levels of Parabellum.
Of course, even though the dense storytelling is what sets this series apart from just about every other action franchise, it’s understandable if all of this just comes across as thematic waffle. But if you just want to see beautifully-filmed carnage, rest assured, you’re still in welcome hands.
It is truly astonishing that this franchise is now five films deep, and there is still no sign of fracturing or wear-and-tear in its extensive foundation. The action beats here maintain the ornate hyperviolent pedigree that Stahelski and the mad lads at 87North have painstakingly crafted over the past decade, incorporating equal parts Peckinpah and Buster Keaton into its grand aesthetic of violence as its own artistic discipline. Boosted by the cracking foley work, making every impact sound like it’s going to break the world in half, along with de Armas’ phenomenal turn as Eve, it is a total joy from beginning to end. Be prepared for intense heat and an eye-watering amount of dickstruction.
From The World of John Wick: Ballerina may not carry the same direct emotional potency of its bigger brothers, but as an extension of the series’ mythos and as another example of modern action cinema par excellence, it more than delivers. After the ‘content’ misfires of The Gray Man and Ghosted, it is immensely satisfying seeing Ana de Armas kick this much arse, while holding her own dramatically against yet another superbly-placed supporting cast. It might also low-key contain some of Keanu Reeves’ best work in the series thus far, only adding to the signs that this is a franchise whose Wick is still burning bright and strong.
