From the World of John Wick: Ballerina Review

Franchise star Keanu Reeves takes on a supporting role in the loquaciously titled "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina," allowing a new assassin Eve, played by Ana de Armas, to take on much of the fighting, shooting and killing. And it wasn't until the two actors shared the screen together that I realized just how good Reeves is at the largely thankless role, bringing a bemused weariness to every bullet he fires. It helps too that his backstory is fed to the audience over several installments, instead of dumped into the opening twenty minutes.

That's lamentable for Eve here, as the film chronicles her childhood trauma of watching her father get killed by a mysterious man named the Chancellor. He's a bad fellow alright, the leader of a group of assassins who kill not just on contract but also for sport. That last part is what separates them from Eve, who's a Ballerina, a totally different group of assassins operated by the Director (Anjelica Huston); the two groups are explained to operate with some sort of gentleman's agreement of not interfering with the other's business. All this goes out the window when Eve decides to stalk this enigmatic cult for revenge, despite the Director being against it, knowing it would spell war between the two groups.

All this narrative gets in the way of the mystique of the titular heroine, outlying her motives in such obvious detail that your only option, other than buying straight into the fuzzy world-building, is to not. And then what? You're left with just another action thriller, which was my unfortunate reaction.

Not that any of this matters; the "John Wick" movies are always best when they keep the audience in the dark, so not to allow the plot to interrupt the series' trademark action. And there is plenty of action in this spinoff, though I am crestfallen to report that the famous creativity and humor is gone. Oh, don't get me wrong, we still see arms broken, faces smashed, body parts shot, sliced and diced, but it's all so rudimentary. Remember an early scene in the third movie, where John Wick is attacked in a library and he smashes a book into the mouth of his would-be killer? It's a great scene, and best of all, it's original. Not so much with "Ballerina," where I can count on one hand the different altercations that had the little, immature kid in me giddy with twisted delight.

That isn't to say this is trash- the frequent violence is well shot, photographed, choreographed, staged and acted, even if it isn't very imaginative. But the best moment is late in the runtime, where Eve finds a flamethrower and fights a dozen or so unnamed henchmen on her quest for vengeance; I looked but couldn't tell where the special effects took over. It's great fun and culminates into a duel when a baddie gets his own incendiary device, which is even greater fun. I just wish there was more of this inventive mayhem.

The Chancellor is played by Gabriel Byrne, by the way, a fine actor, but films like these live and die on their villain and he's too classical for material like this. Just imagine how good a character actor like James Woods, or the late Dennis Hopper, would have been. But we're stuck with Gabe, who just stands around delivering his vague dialogue like he's in a production that doesn't involve a flamethrower fight in an Austrian tunnel.