Ballerina (2025)

From the World of John Wick....this is techically a spin-off which takes place between the events of John Wick Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the focus here is on Eve who is played by Ana De Armas.  Eve is an assassin who was initially trainied as as a ballerina, hence the title!  The Director of her "academy" is Angelica Huston who was also featured as a character in Chapter 3.  Eve is seeking revenge against a rival organization which murdered her father when she was a young child - that organization is lead by The Chancellor played by Gabriel Byrne.  And off she goes from New York City throughout Northern Europe on an increasingly violent adventure where she is tasked with defeating rival assassins through a variety of methods including her fists, grenades, flame throwers, knives, and dishes. ;) Along the way, she also encounters the "Baba Yaga" himself, John Wick once again played by Keanu Reeves.  Ken Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard, Underworld) directs with a supporting cast also including Ian McShane, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, and in sadly his final on-screen appearance, the late great Lance Reddick. 

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon

Editor: Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

BALLERINA - 2025

Directed by Len Wiseman

Starring Ana De Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Catalina Sandino Morano, Lance Reddick, Abraham Popoola, and Keanu Reeves

Genre: Action Thriller (Audio clip)

Something interesting occurs early in this movie, I THINK about 20 or 30 minutes in on....when our titular heroine/assassin Eve played by Ana De Armas is apparently just finishing her second assignment. (At least according the movie) She's swiftly working her way out of a cavernous, glitzy dance club in Manhattan, bloodily dispatching a couple of armed goons mostly via slick martial arts moves using their larger sizes against them OR by slicing them multiple times "prison-shiv style" with various sharp knives which she keeps on her person. It's brutal, high-energy action shot fluidly in the style of the previous entries in this franchise...but with one minor twist. 🤔 

As she's gradually approaching that exit, it becomes increasingly obvious that Eve is determined to NOT leave one thing in particular behind....her KNIVES. 🙄 She's clearly bruised and battered, slowing down a bit due to some injuries, and lord knows that she is leaving in her wake some noticeable carnage. But all the while, she's retracing her steps just a bit to re-collect some of her more useful blades as she plucks them out of a few bloodied corpses. And RIGHT as she's walking out that exit door as she can hear more trouble coming in the vicinity....Eve then doubles back just a few feet inside to nab one LAST knife which was embedded in the skull of her last opponent. You see what De Armas and director Len Wiseman have presented us with here is not only an action hero who's resourceful...but one who is clearly NOT wasteful either. ;) And it was at THIS point in the early on watching this in seat-vibrating Dolby, when I realized that I was really digging this movie! 

Maybe it was lowered expectations after hearing about years of delays and/or reshoots or the fact that this new spin-off from The John Wick Saga was being directed by the same guy who helmed Live Free Or Die Hard and the ghastly Total Recall remake (!) from 13 years ago....but I had a better time than expected seeing this on the big screen. 🙂 Even pretty much on par with the four Wick films which I also saw in theaters....and not as bloated as the last one (Chapter Four) either.

Which isn't to say that it's quite as well-crafted overall....there aren't quite as many memorable characters nor locations, it feels just a bit less ambitious from an overall stunt perspective. The scale of the action never quite approaches the inspired heights of the silent subway shooting in Chapter Two nor that crazy Paris traffic circle stuff in Chapter Four. Even at just over two hours, this movie BARELY slows down to breathe....I wouldn't even be surprised if DeArmas had less dialogue here than Reeves in each of the previous films. 🤫 She still holds the screen for sure and at the very least carries off a few more clever moments along the lines of the knife one mentioned earlier. 

Her character is basically out on a single-minded mission of revenge....sound familiar? 😏 Yeah if anything, this is VERY much in line with the first John Wick, only we're much more familiar with the overall universe this time around. We get to return to The Continental and spend some more with Ian McShane Winston AND even a few more moments with Lance Reddick's Charon who's always a delight. Albeit a bittersweet one considering that it's now been more than two years since Reddick last left us. :( Angelica Huston also reprises her role from Chapter Three as "The Director" of the dance academy which Eve is recruited into. (Psst it's more than just a dance academy. 🤫) Huston's role is beefed up more this time around as she serves as one of the main mentors of our heroin. She's having some fun too hamming it up, as is Gabriel Byrne as "The Chancellor" who pretty much serves as this story's main villain. 

The narrative is pretty much just a series of action set pieces with barely enough connective tissue to sustain them...but it's just enough and the action is often quite good and bloody. This might even be the goriest film of the Wick-verse, it's probably a close call between this and the canine-fueled carnage of Chapter Three. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film) :

Wow after some hemming and hawing about Limp Bizkit’s contributions to the soundtrack of recent episode Mission Impossible II….it KIND of pains me to return to that era of music with ANOTHER band from the early ‘00’s which I was never particularly crazy about….but here we are because they happen to contribute a song to this movie’s soundtrack which kind of fits PERFECTLY over the closing credits….founded by lead singer/keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody….they had some BIG hits just over twenty years ago fueled by Lee’s FIERCE vocal stylings….I’m referring to Little Rock, Arkansas’s OWN….Evanescence. (Audio clip) 

Sorry I just never got their appeal back in the day.  But there I was digging these stylized closing credits….enjoying this goofy but catchy rocker with simplistic yet straightforward lyrics actually quoting a KEY line of dialogue from earlier in the movie no less.  I’m listening….I know the voice….I’m watching the closing credits….I’m wondering….and yup to my surprise, I realize I’m rocking out to a song by Evanescence.  Hey it just works, the song is the elegantly titled, “Fight Like a Girl.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

For one thing it's always nice to see Norman Reedus (Darryl from The Walking Dead) make an appearance as he does here as a sorta-rival assassin Daniel whom Eve encounters about half-way through and the threatened kidnapping of his daughter (I think) becomes a key driver of the plot.  And yes he's good but just not in the movie as much as I would have expected. (Audio clip) 

Now as for THE big elephant in the room which I have not mentioned as of yet….much has been made about how this film was retooled somewhat to include more with Keanu Reeves playing John Wick – apparently this takes place between Chapters 3 and 4.  And yes Reeves is in more of this movie than I expected, it’s definitely more than a cameo as John Wick even kind of becomes more instrumental to plot in the third act.  And…..he’s good as always, undoubtedly the “Baba Yaga” as he nicknamed casts quite the shadow within this world – I enjoyed him every minute he was on screen.  And….here’s my hot take: you don’t really need him in this movie, I actually don’t know if his presence makes the movie better….even with minimal dialogue, Eve as a character is compelling enough and she has more than her share of standout action moments, throwing in some Wick just feels indulgent as much as anything. 

I 100% get as to why Lionsgate and Chad Stahelski decided to go this route as they have marketed Keanu’s presence in this movie VERY aggressively – maybe from a box office standpoint, it will help…who knows?  And now I’m SURE some one who has seen this movie might respond with, “Well hold on, what about when John Wick….does…….?”  And to that I would answer simply….with some retooling, there was already a character in place who might have served that same purpose….and he’s played by Norman Reedus.  Talk about potentially killing TWO birds with one stone. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Roughly about halfway into the movie when traversing through northern Europe, Eve makes a detour at a special shop with a secret compartment no less….where she can get some special gear.  I ALWAYS love these parts in a John Wick movie and this one doesn’t disappoint.  Infact, we are also introduced to my favorite new scene stealer from this movie…. gregarious weapons guy FRANK played by Abraham Popoola (also of Andor....hmmm).  And he not only introduces our heroine to some intriguing new weapons.  Introduction of said weapons also leads to what I consider the film's most dazzling action setpiece....involving grenades, lots of grenades. 🤗 Really fun stuff! 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

I just don’t feel like this film truly works if there’s not some one compelling holding the screen….and that’s where Ms. DeArmas comes in.  Apparently she trained like hell for well over a year before this was filmed and it SHOWS, she is simply phenomenal!  Over the past ten years, the actress SEEMS to be nudging her way towards stardom….scene-stealing supporting turns in Blade Runner 2049, previous episode No Time To Die, and Knives Out…..Oscar-nominated turn as Marilyn Monroe in Blonde which by all accounts was an otherwise ghastly movie….kind of an inspired turn in the otherwise derided thriller Deep Water which I thought was fun but no one else apparently did.  No matter the genre or how ridiculous everyone around her gets on-screen…,she DOES seem to have the chops.  Do I wish she was given some more quieter moments here?  Sure but in the context of this being a full-on action movie, she MORE than delivers. Whether it be via round-house kicks, the jaw-dropping usage of a flame thrower late in the movie, or…..in one pretty inspired sequence…going to town against ANOTHER assassin on a kitchen floor using NOTHING but DISHES….her Eve is a genuine kick-ass action hero.  For delivering the goods and even holding her own within the World of Wick no less…..Ana De Armas is the MVP.  (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3.8 stars out of 5 

Is there much depth to any of it? Likely not...though is that REALLY what we're seeing these movies for anyways? 😒 Seriously you compile all (now) five entries of this franchise together and you maybe have enough actual "story" for 2 to 3 three movies at most! And that's ok because as with the previous four, this one delivers where it counts. If you had told me just a few weeks ago that I would have a better time overall watching THIS over the latest Mission Impossible, then I would have simply not believed you....but yup I did.

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And that ends another KIKIMORA  review!