My views on the ever expanding John Wick universe (spoiler free opinions on 'From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina')

First of all, I am going to throw it out there that I really like the John Wick franchise. Now this isn't a controversial take because the franchise has literally made over a billion in the box office, and some of the films in the franchise are widely regarded as some of the best action films of all time, but I think it's still worth clarifying that I am big fan of the films going into this review. When I wrote about the Mission Impossible franchise in a previous post, I talked about how I thought it was interesting that it manages to be fairly mainstream (at least based on box office numbers and reputation) whilst also being a franchise that you would probably have to try fairly hard to find someone that's confidently seen them all. They're a set of films that nowadays almost feels carried by their own reputation rather than the actual stories. A good example of this being the amount of flashbacks in Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning which was put into the film for audiences that hadn't seen the originals but wanted to see the latest shenanigans Tom Cruise puts himself through.

For me, John Wick as a franchise is in a similar box. I've seen all the films but I don't feel confident that I know many people that have too and even then, the plots are so vague as a result of their unbelievable commitment to high quality fight scenes that people often struggle to remember the stories (outside of him getting dog based revenge) when asked what happens. I think that's one of the things I find really interesting about movies. Sometimes you just miss really good films because you never got around to it and other times, films are so popular that you think you've probably seen them all and actually they've just passed you by. You can have a really good franchise like a Mission Impossible or a John Wick, but as soon as your friends talk about how Mission Impossible films are just Tom Cruise running for 2 hours or how John Wick is too overpowered for it to be realistic, and suddenly you've chosen to do something else rather than see one of these films on the big screen.

This brings us to the latest in the John Wick universe, 'From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina' - a film I think I easily could have accidentally missed despite being a fan of the franchise. I regard myself as someone that's fairly up to date with the internet and I'm not sure I've seen that much marketing or word of mouth talk about this film. A viewpoint that is mildly backed from a quick scroll through the 34 people I follow on Letterboxd because none of them have seen it yet which is a massive shame because this film is so much fun.

The film follows Eve Macarro (Ana De Armas), a ballerina who is beginning to train in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma (who appear in John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum) as she tries to track down the cult that killed her family when she was just a child. As is the case with most John Wick movies that's pretty much the extent of the broader plot for the movie as they predominantly focus on big fighting set pieces and a continuation of the John Wick world build only this time through the eyes of Eva Macarro. This was something I actually really liked about the movie because it weaved so effortlessly in and out of the already established stories of the franchise whilst also still focussing on being separate which allows Macarro's story to be the focus for audiences. This meant that there wasn't a full reliance on understanding all the intrinsic complexities of the John Wick world because the film also stands alone pretty successfully. This approach also enabled them to use John Wick (Keanu Reeves) in quite a clever way storyline wise rather than the typical cameo you might have expected when the film was announced.

There were lots I really enjoyed about this film but one of the main things was how good the character development of Eve Macarro was. When you are watching John Wick in the original films, you are watching someone who is years into their career as an assassin and his mannerisms/decision making regularly matches up with what you would expect from someone who is regarded as the 'most feared' hitman around. With Eva Macarro in Ballerina, we are watching someone in a completely opposite way because we are seeing her at the start of her career. As a result, you see a raw nature to her fighting approach which is portrayed brilliantly by Ana De Armas. There are lots of nice small nuanced moments in the film where you can see her character still doesn't feel comfortable killing people and often pauses for the most brief of moments when she has to interact with bystanders or families.

The final area of the film I want to touch upon in this review is the once again incredibly strong standard of stunts and fight choreography. The film comfortably matches the high standards set by the rest of the films and it's easy to assume upon watching that there's a good chance it will get a nomination for stunts in the newly added stunt category at The Academy Awards. Although it's a bit of a slow burner to start, the film really packs it's punches in the final third with some really epic and fun set pieces set in the beautiful town of Hallstatt (which I've since hilariously learnt is massively against overtourism which am sure won't be a problem now it's in another major movie).

Overall, I had a lot more fun with this movie than I expected and if you're a fan of the action genre then this is definitely a film worth catching. I feel like I say this with most reviews at the moment but I think it's also really worth seeing at the cinema purely for the fight scenes alone. I came out of the screening more excited than ever to see what they continue to do with the John Wick franchise, especially with how they follow up the events of Chapter 4.

5 STARS

Ana de Armas in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina' Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection