John Wick gets a pleasantly satisfying, ultra-violent spinoff in Ballerina

Larry D. Horricks for Lionsgate

Movie-wise, I find there are few things better than going into something relatively cold, with low expectations, followed by the pleasant surprise of having those expectations exceeded.

That was how, in 2014, the first John Wick movie hooked me, and hooked so many other people that it turned into a successful multi-film franchise, despite having one of the goofiest trailers in modern memory.

As legions of fans know, the insane stunts and the presence of our beloved Keanu Reeves are only part of what made that franchise what it’s become. The Wick series’ secret weapon is its detailed, byzantine world of clans, underground brokers, rules (written and unwritten) and the shadowy, fastidious folks who enforce said rules. It’s a film series that finds new areas to explore with each subsequent entry. In other words, it’s a franchise about surprises.

Form-wise, Ballerina, the first feature-length Wick spinoff, isn’t terribly surprising. You can see the beats coming from a mile away, and much of it vibes like John Wick fanfiction. Oddly, this isn’t a complaint—it can be really fun when a movie decides to lean into fan-speculative “what if” territory as long as it doesn’t get too high on its own supply.

While Ballerina isn’t on the level of Wick proper, it’s got enough wild action and worldbuilding to be an enjoyable addition to the family.

Eve (Ana de Armas) is part of the Ruska Roma, the Slavic dance troupe front-operating killer-for-hire clan we met in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Eve’s been here since childhood, when a gang of assassins with x-shaped scars on their wrists murdered her dad (Umbrella Academy’s David Castañeda), and Ian McShane’s Continental Hotel manager Winston helped her find a home. When a job brings the scarred-up clan back into Eve’s periphery, she rejects the order of her director (Anjelica Huston) to leave them be—wouldn’t you know it, there are rules—and goes on a solo revenge mission.

As per usual, the places that journey takes us are explored more in breadth than they are depth, but even a shallow dip is pretty fun. There’s a Prague-based outpost of the Continental that’s extremely on-brand for Central Europe in its neon-hued touristy flash. A quick visit to a local weapons dealer (his shop is hunting-themed!) gets shooty and quippy almost immediately. The whole third act takes place in an assassin-populated mountain village that feels like a riff on Gymkata.

Courtesy Lionsgate

The rest of Ballerina’s strengths (and…lesser strengths) can be summed up in a series of questions and answers. Is there a plot in all this violence and spectacle? Kind of. Do we care? Only as much as we need to. Does Keanu show up? He does, for a little bit, and it’s exactly the level of character connection you’d want for a spinoff like this. What’s Norman Reedus doing here? Oddly little, considering his character’s role in the story — it would’ve been nice to see him and de Armas interact the way Reeves gets to with visiting action luminaries in his movies.

Now for the most important question: How are the stunts? By and large, they’re pretty good! Several of them are shot and edited in ways you wouldn’t expect—a car crash with a longer take that lets you see it as it happens instead of the expected big ‘ol out-of-nowhere smashup, a flamethrower fight (yes, a flamethrower fight) shot from above. Props there go to cinematographer Romain Lacourbas, the film’s VFX team and editors (which include KC-area native Nicholas Lundgren).

Ballerina is better than its messy production history would lead you to expect, which is a nice surprise. It leans into the existing strengths of the John Wick films by staking out new-ish territory and letting its lead explore said territory in satisfying ways. It’s not as creative as its brethren, but you can only ask for so much of that when Len Wiseman—the guy behind the Underworld movies and the ill-received Wickverse miniseries The Continental—is in the director’s chair.

This is a perfectly solid popcorn movie, not as operatic as it could be, but with strengths all its own, and it’s worth checking out for that reason.