It’s set to be a long wait until John Wick: Chapter 5 hits our screens. In the meantime, Lionsgate has given us the standalone expansion pack Ballerina: From the World of John Wick. Developed by Len Wiseman, Ballerina uses the same engine and assets from John Wick: Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, but features a new lead character, Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina-assassin working for the shadowy Ruska Roma clan.

Canon-wise, Ballerina takes place between Wick 3 and Wick 4. In the prologue, young Eve sees her dad assassinated by end-boss The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), leader of a mysterious group of assassins sporting a unique scar on their wrists. Luckily, Eve is rescued by recurring characters Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and Charon (The Wire’s Lance Reddick, his last appearance before his death in 2023).

She’s placed in the care and tuition of the Director (Anjelica Huston), who teaches shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and, inexplicably, ballet. Here, Ballerina teaches us the rules, control interface and mechanics of the Wickverse; a world populated by stylised killers and bounty hunters living among us (although it’s never quite clear what they’re fighting over).

The main portion of the Ballerina campaign details Eve’s efforts to find the Chancellor and exact revenge. The action plays out much like the other Wick instalments; combat is a mixture of running and shooting, taking cover, and various melee attacks combined to dizzying effect. Eve is lighter and quicker than Keanu’s Wick, but she’s weaker too, so basically, she kicks guys in the nuts more. Apart from that, there’s not a lot to distinguish de Armas’s performance, but she’s absolutely fine at rolling, shooting, and gouging at wave after unrelenting wave of literally hundreds of henchmen. Her enemies, for the most part, don’t seem interested in preserving their lives, but their deaths are entertaining, varied and bloody.

As for the upgrades since JW4, Lionsgate offers some interesting new weapons and combat options to keep the fans interested. The standard shooting and melee weapons are all here; knives, clubs, axes, pistols, machine guns, but there’s some interesting additions such as ice skates, grenades, flame throwers, and crossbows to vary the experience. Level-designs are clever and balanced – particularly the extended alpine town in the final act. Fights are well-choreographed and relentless, permeated by perfunctory cut scenes that drive the plot, if you can call it that, forward.

So, for a spin-off entry in the World of Wick, Ballerina is wholesome, violent fun. It’s chick-Wick, which will probably make some people happy (and inevitably, other people unhappy). There’s enough stabbings, punch-ups and shoot-outs to tide us over until the return of Reeves in the mainline series. But the inevitable appearance of Reeves in the final act does remind us of why the Wick-franchise has cross-over appeal; he brings an element of charisma and humanity to the character that grounds the carnage. And it’s not de Armas fault that she doesn’t quite get there; it’s more the fault of nervous, retread-obsessed Hollywood, desperate to wring out ever more dollars from existing film properties rather than risk it all on something new.

 

Ballerina opened in cinemas on Thursday.