2 days Ago
In scenic countryside, flamethrowers stand in for snow shovels and children learn to shoot early in life.
The beginning of this film injects a rare note of surprise and even humor into the doomy world of John Wick. The actress Ana de Armas, who plays Eve, first appears in a scene in which she participates in a chaotic but very smart plate-smashing competition with a seemingly sweet waitress who hides how rough she can be early on.
These moments feel fresh too, even if the movie does eventually settle into the franchise’s standard menu of unending violence.
Filling in the Timeline and Eve’s Story Background
In terms of where Ballerina sits in the John Wick timeline, it occurs during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 so anything from that film and anything in the future forget about it while thinking of this film. Eagle-eyed fans of the movies may recall a short ballet sequence in the third film — that very moment is revisited here, with Eve sweating through a chain of fouettés in workout mode. After years spent practicing, she is still constantly falling, which does raise a few questions about her coordination as a killing machine.
Eve’s tale opens as a girl who resides with her dad in a home by the ocean. When the black-clad assassins show up, her father sacrifices himself to save her. Winston (Ian McShane), manager of the Continental Hotel, intervenes to return her to her father’s family. That brings Eve to The Director (Anjelica Huston), the head of a ballet academy that moonlights as a school where petty criminals are trained by the Ruska Romas, the same organization that trained John Wick.
Years later, Eve, now all grown up, has one thing in mind: avenging her father’s death. While her ballet turns still give her trouble, as Perez-Marzock is a much more skilled marksman. A fleeting but eyebrow-raising cameo from Keanu Reeves as John Wick provides Eve the opportunity to leave the assassin life behind. But Eve wouldn’t join, not escape. Her way takes her to Hallstatt, a wintry backwater ruled by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), who by no coincidence is her father’s assassin.
Revenge, Action and Strength Through It All
And in Hallstatt, Eve enters an entire village of assassins, taking them out one by one while Im headed to the battlefield. An old lesson from her childhood — “fight like a girl” — takes on new meaning when she relies on craft and strategy instead of brute force. Her struggles become increasingly complicated and her arsenal more innovative, ultimately involving a flamethrower, as she seeks vengeance and a place in a savage world.
Credit From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for strong and bloody violence and language; running time: 125 minutes. Though it gets a smattering of applause for new flourishes and a committed performance by de Armas, the movie gets down in the usual gunplay of the franchise, earning two stars out of four.
