Len Wiseman and Chad Stahelski direct Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves and Gabriel Byrne in this action spin-off where an orphaned girl trains to be a killer bodyguard within the John Wick universe.

There are an un-tally-able amount of moments of people getting walloped in the crotch in this. Knees, rubber bullets, actual bullets. Bad time for genitals. The “ballerina” aspect seems to be stop gap marketing idea from seven years ago never truly fulfilled in the finished movie. “Kikimora” would be the more apt title for the finished product. As that is what Ana de Armas’ pretty but sexless blank trains up to become. She is essentially a Gen Z Nikita and Anne Parilaud even has a blink and I missed it cameo according to the credits in tribute to that hit girl classic. Everyone is getting old. The action is very much more of the same… only the cuts are quicker to cover up de Armas’ heavily relied upon stunt doubles. If you got bored of the constant grappling and shooting and slamming in past entries, then this doesn’t offer much more variation than previous ones. Having said that, Ballerina does become at least a bit more slapstick and spectacular in the second half. There is a rumble through a workshop with grenades that feels excessively silly and the finale involving duelling flame throwers has certainly never been done before. Allegedly, series mastermind Stahelski reshot all these sequences after Wiseman’s cut got weak test scores. And that shows. The last act is way more involving, inspired and pulse raising than the rather lacklustre seen-it-all-before build-up. Of course it helps that Keanu crops up for a prominent reprise in the third act. If you like gun-fu, comic book world building and puce lighting, then this fifth trip out of The Continental does hit the spot. I guess I still do.

7

Perfect Double Bill: Anna (2019)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll