Ballerina lives in the same world as John Wick, but isn’t following in his footsteps. And that’s a good thing. Let me explain.
The John Wick movies are some of my favorite action movies ever. The story is compelling, the cinematography draws you in, and I love the legend of the Baba Yaga created around John. But I especially love how the action isn’t about gratuitous violence. It’s about getting the job done. And if it takes one shot, that’s it.
Ballerina, though living within the framework of John Wick, defines her own path with a brutality of her own that makes her stand out. But she has the heart of John Wick, the one that knows the difference between a job, survival, and doing what’s right when the world wants to snuff out your light. It’s that heart, that forging of her own path, that makes Ballerina worth watching.
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At the center of this story is Ana de Armas Eve. And when I talk about her brutality, I come at it from two points. For one, she’s inexperienced. She isn’t John. She hasn’t had the years of jobs to refine her craft but also to work through the pain she’s carried since childhood. That leads to my second point. Her inexperience coupled with her anger, leads to some of the most brutally creative action scenes where Eve uses everything and anything to take her target down.
John is a brutal fighter, there’s no denying that. But I’ve always seen his work as kind of a dance with measured moves and no time to waste. Eve is a woman. And as a woman, there’s one thing we have always been taught that didn’t require attending a secret ballerina/assassin school to teach: everything is a weapon when you live a life of hypervigilance because your own species is the danger you’ve been warned about since birth. Eve combines that hypervigilance with her assassin training. So it’s not that the things around her are possible weapons. They are her weapons. And be it ice skates or a remote control, everything is a tool for survival.
Then there’s the flamethrower.
On the surface, the flamethrower in Ballerina seems like the director wanted a big weapon being carried by a pretty woman to bring in the masses. Typically I would agree with a point like that because sex sells and Hollywood wields this consistently. But there was nothing sexy about Eve with that flamethrower. If anything, that was the personification of her rage devouring every person in her way. Did it go on a little bit longer than I would have expected? Yes. Would I watch it again, and maybe the extended version if there ever is one because it was giving waterbender versus firebender? Also yes.
Ballerina isn’t about perpetuating the mysterious, deadly, and sexy assassin or spy like de Armas James Bond role did. It isn’t even about becoming the secret bombshell that uses her wiles to lure foolish men to their deaths. Eve faces possible death, guns, knives, and everything in between… while fully dressed. Even the dress that she wore in that ice club, that wasn’t meant to be sexy. Because Eve isn’t a sex symbol. She is an assassin with a job. And like any job, it’s a balance between looking the part and actually having the skills needed. And Eve has plenty of both in Ballerina but leans heavily into the latter.
MORE: Did you know Ana de Armas did a romantic spy movie with Chris Evans?
Eve also wasn’t the mother in Ballerina. When Norman Reedus’s Daniel Pine was introduced, I wasn’t expecting the child. But as soon as I zeroed in on Ella I knew they were going to bridge some sort of connection between Eve and her. And like if I had a crystal ball, I saw Hollywood killing Daniel and leading Eve on a journey where she would bond with Ella before “renouncing her killing ways to raise this child because motherhood still runs through her veins even though she wasn’t raised by a mother.” Basically I was ready to hate this entire plot point. Because women are often either the sex symbol or the caretaker in Hollywood.
Ballerina was neither of these.
Like John, Eve knows the difference between a job and doing what’s right. But they both also have respect for their craft while holding firm on their morals. This is what I saw when it came to Eve and Ella. Eve made a promise to Daniel and kept it while staying true to her morals and respecting the job. She didn’t “see herself” in this small child and suddenly came to a realization about the “sanctity of life” and how “motherhood is her true calling” cuz reasons. Eve is not a parent and Ella already has one. And I loved that for all of them.
We can’t finish this review for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina without talking about the iconic Baba Yaga.
John didn’t overshadow Eve in Ballerina. The writing, directing, and cinematography made it clear that Eve and John exist in the same world. But they let Eve shine, even when John was on screen. And when John stepped back into this world, believe it or not, we saw John and Eve on similar ground. Better yet, John didn’t look down upon her, her age, or her rage. He gave her a choice, respected it, and then helped her out when it mattered. And when the moment was over, he exited the film, a clear but silent commentary for the audience that this was Eve’s story and he still had his to tell.
Overall, I really enjoyed From the World of John Wick: Ballerina because she was brutal yet refined, angry but respectful, skilled yet flexible, kind hearted yet knowledgeable of her boundaries and what she is or isn’t. And she did all of that without falling into boring old stereotypes that pigeonhole women in action.
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I can only hope that Lionsgate gives us more of Eve. And it’s not only because I want to see another flamethrower and water hose deathmatch. It’s because I see the same raw potential I saw in the first John Wick movie in Eve. And that raw potential in John led to this entire franchise. So imagine if we gave Eve a little more time to cook? I want to find out.
Ballerina is now playing in theaters.
