- BALLERINA
- Starring: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane
- Directed by: Len Wiseman
- Rated: R
- Running time: 2 hrs 4 mins
- Lionsgate
Our score: 3 out of 5
When I interviewed ballerina Moira Shearer who starred in “The Red Shoes,” she happily informed me, “Dancers and boxers lace their boots the same way.”
As the analogy indicates, deadly force can come in seemingly dainty packages.
That may explain why “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” usually works. Ana de Armas proved she had what it took to be an action hero in “No Time to Die.” In her brief turn, her awkward demeanor belied formidable speed and agility. Her precision dagger was a nice complement of James Bond’s blunt instrumentation.
This time around she plays Eve, a young woman struggling to deal with being orphaned after trained killers murdered her dad. Winston (Ian McShane), who acts like a referee in the universe that Eve and John Wick (Keanu Reeves) inhabit, puts her in the care of the Director (Anjelica Huston).
Eve now has a unique regimen. Most of us don’t have to train for the rigors of both ballet, which can decimate a dancer’s feet, and for martial arts and target practice. Because she’s as sturdy as she is agile, it’s no surprise she spends less time on stage than she does guarding clients or selectively ending lives.
After a few successful missions, she discovers that the people who killed her father are still around. The Director has had a long truce with the rival troupe of killers and their leader The Chancellor (an appropriately chilly Gabriel Byrne).
Eve couldn’t care less about those arrangements. She wants revenge and is willing to charge into a village populated entirely with seasoned assassins.
If anyone could survive such a seeming act of folly, she would be the one. Her bravado is accompanied by the sort of creativity that comes from an education in the arts. This enables her to neutralize larger, stronger opponents.
Watching de Armas leap, kick and shoot is expectedly exhilarating. Screenwriter Shay Hatten, who wrote the last two John Wick films, comes up with a delightfully goofy solutions when Eve runs out of ammo.
Director Len Wiseman (“Underworld”) stages the mayhem with appropriate finesse, but he deviates little from the template that Chad Stahelsski established in the first two movies. “Ballerina” might have been more fun if it gave Eve a stamp of her own. The pneumatic tubes that send death warrants across the oceans in seconds are here, but it the idea of blending classical dance and combat is only partially realized.
Reeves, who produced, returns as Wick. He seems committed, but the script incorporates Wick as an afterthought. Reeves and de Armas share little screen time and don’t get a chance to play off each other much. It would have been more fun if their contrasting styles could have been clearly delineated.
De Armas at least shows that her lean shoulders can carry a shoot-em-up with confidence. Here’s hoping her next turn behind a gun is as nimble as she is.
On a scale of zero to five, “Ballerina” receives ★★★