
By ORION BAKER/Multimedia Editor Assistant
Duke Reviews: From The World of John Wick: Ballerina
Since the beginning of this column, I have consistently mentioned reviewing films, and today is the first one. Set in the John Wick universe, “Ballerina” is the first spin-off for the franchise.
Does the John Wick franchise land the mark for spin-offs, or does it fall short?
PREFACE
I haven’t seen any of the John Wick films. I mainly went because of my father’s birthday.
Despite this fact, “Ballerina” qualifies as an entry level addition to the franchise without the complete context of the other John Wick movies, which is the film’s strongest quality.
Ballerina follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) as she goes on a quest of vengeance against a cult that killed her father.
THE REVIEW
For this review, I decided to structure it in three stages: The Good, The Bad, and The Messy.
THE GOOD
Ballerina’s choreography is easily one of—if not the biggest—highlights of the film. Every scene takes the action to an elevated level whether it is in hand-to-hand combat, gun fights or even flame throwers. It’s a testament to the action genre as a medium.
Another commendable quality of “Ballerina” is the color grading. The variety of locales allows for a plethora of colors to shine whether it is an ice rink club with pink highlights or a mountainside town accented in brown and red. “Ballerina” is a sight and sensation for the eyes.
Other small things I liked were the editing and set pieces. The editing is fast-paced which makes the action scenes pop with impact and motion.
I already mentioned how the set pieces complemented the colors, but on their own, they felt diverse and fun to see in action. For example, there was a sequence in the hotel that stands out as an action set piece. Surrounded in the hotel, Eve has to fight her way out, going back and forth between rooms.
THE BAD
Pacing. Pacing. Pacing.
I get that “Ballerina” is an action movie, so it has to move at a mile a minute, but even a good action movie has to slow down for the audiences to absorb the story in a meaningful way. It’ll go from a slow-burn cold open to set piece after set piece.
For example, Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus) feels wasted due his lack of screen time and pacing. Despite him being in all of the promotional material and featured prominently, his character’s daughter has more significance than him, and he winds up as under utilized.
The movie will move quickly through exposition—which, yeah, I get it’s boring.
A particularly frustrating moments in the movie was a 15-minute scene where Eve goes to a gun shop run ran by Frank (Abraham Popoola). After five minutes of useless gun talk, Eve fights off members of the cult in the shop and destroys it causing Frank to get injured. Following that sequence, Frank shows Eve where she needs to go next, and then she is like, “Yeah, my bad for the store, can I have a car though?” For such a long, dragging scene, Eve could have easily gotten the car in a previous sequence instead of a logically appalling and boring series of event.
To be frank, the writing genuinely feels like a video game because the plot progression goes from level 1 to 2 to 3, and so on. Not to say it’s all bad—like the scenes with John Wick or the scenes at the Ruska Roma—but it is mostly bad.
The plot twist is boring and unoriginal, especially because the character for said twist is barely in the movie because—spoiler alert—they die not even five minutes after the twist.
The Messy
Upon further research on the rocky development and production behind “Ballerina,” it isn’t hard to see why the film turned out this way—as the same can be said for most modern films.
According to The Wrap, in February 2024, Producer Chad Stahelski was working on additional action sequences for the film with Director Len Wiseman. Reportedly, Stahelski oversaw two to three months of reshoots, refilming the majority of the movie while Wiseman wasn’t present on set. Despite this, though, both Stahelski and Wiseman refuted this claim, saying that it was only two weeks of additional footage and that Stahelski oversaw it with Wiseman.
Despite what these two say, I do not believe them because there is other way why the movie is bad.
These additional shoots and reshoots caused the film to be delayed a year. Originally, Ballerina was set for June 7, 2024 and released June 6, 2025.
Scoring and Conclusion
Score: 4.5/10
If you go into this just wanting to see some stellar action, you’ll be set, but don’t expect a spectacular movie.
As much as I enjoyed going into this movie blind, I left feeling underwhelmed; however, I do want to check out the other John Wick films now.
There is a fun movie here whether you are an avid fan of the franchise or you go in blind like me. With amazing set pieces, brilliant fight scenes and beautiful colors and production, there are the makings of something great. It doesn’t sell itself as something unique, nor does it stand out.
And that’s that! For my next review, I’m going to do another movie. However, if you have any suggestions, the form is here.