“Ballerina”, a spin-off installment within the John Wick franchise, is brutally redundant to say the least. While surely serving us a heap of extremely brutal and violent action scenes as expected, this slick and competent genre piece does not bring that much to its franchise on the whole without generating enough fun and excitement to hold our attention, and you may not have much expectation when its end credits eventually roll on the screen.

The story, which is mostly set at a time point somewhere between “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” (2019) and “John Wick: Chapter 4” (2023), mainly revolves around Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a female assassin who has been trained in the traditions of an old assassin organization named the Ruska Roma in New York City since she was a young little girl. At that time, she was being protected for a while by her dear father who escaped along with her from some other equally dangerous assassin organization, but then that assassin organization eventually attacked upon them, and Eve managed to survive alone in the end. Thanks to Winston Scott (Ian MacShane), the enigmatic owner of the New York Continental Hotel who also happened to be an old friend of her father, she was later sent to the Ruska Roma for her safety, and we soon see her going through a number of intense training sessions around 12 years later. 

When the Director (Anjelica Huston), an old but strong-willed lady who has been the leader of the Ruska Roma, decides that the time for the first mission comes to Eve at last, Eve is certainly ready to prove her professional worth, and that leads to a stylish action sequence unfolded inside a big nightclub literally frosty to say the least. If you remember how she held her own small place well beside Daniel Craig during a big action scene in “No Time to Die” (2021), you will not be surprised much by how physically committed Ana de Armas looks as throwing herself into a lot of intense actions here and there, but you will still admire her considerable efforts shown from the screen nonetheless. In addition, I must tell you that, like me, some South Korean moviegoers will be amused a bit by the appearance of Jung Doo-hong, a renowned South Korean stunt coordinator who worked in a bunch of notable South Korean action films such as “The Berlin File” (2013).

Within a short period, Eve becomes one of the most dependable (and lethal) members in the Ruska Roma, but then there comes an unexpected discovery for her not long after she finished her latest job. She encounters a member of that assassin organization responsible for her father’s death, and she soon becomes quite determined to track down that assassin organization even though both the Director and Winston firmly warn her of how risky that can be for not only her but also her organization.

Nevertheless, Eve remains adamant about avenging her father’s death, and Winston cannot possibly say no as a man of honor who promised to her in the past that he will not deny a request from her. Thanks to a little piece of information from Winston, Eve comes to Prague, Czech for approaching to a certain figure who may lead her to her target, and that naturally leads to another action sequence filled with a lot of crashes and bangs.

As Eve gets closer to her target, we get to know a bit more about not only the organization responsible for her father’s death but also its fanatic leader. It turns out later that there is some young girl the organization and its leader are ready to take away by any means necessary, and this young girl surely comes to remind Eve a lot of who she once was a long time ago. Around the narrative point where she is eventually going to confront her main opponent, the situation turns out to be much more perilous than expected, but she is not daunted at all – even when someone is sent by the Director to stop her at the last minute.

Considering how prominent Keanu Reeves has been in the promotion of the film besides serving as one of its executive producers, I guess I do not spoil anything for you as discussing a bit about his brief appearance in the movie. Reeves dutifully does whatever is required here, but his several scenes feel rather perfunctory, and it is disappointing to see that his character only comes to function as a convenient plot device for the expected climactic part.

Around de Armas and Reeves, a number of notable performers fill their respective spots as much as possible. While Ian MacShane, who is surely the most entertaining performer in the franchise, has some juicy moments as having a small fun with his character’s wily aspects as before, Anjelica Huston brings a little but precious touch of class as she previous did, and Gabriel Byrne broodingly chews every moment of his as the main villain of the story. In case of Catalina Sandino Moreno and Sharon Duncan-Brewster, they are unfortunately under-utilized due to their thin supporting roles, and Lance Reddick, who sadly passed away in 2023, leaves some impression even though he briefly appears in a couple of short scenes shot not long before his death.

Overall, “Ballerina”, directed Len Wiseman, is mostly fine as a passable opener for whatever may follow next, but it is one or two steps below what was achieved by those four John Wick movies. While these John Wick movies are quite amusing as a sort of violent but stylish deadpan joke besides being well-made action films, “Ballerina” is relatively deficient in terms of wit and style, and I only found myself becoming more distant during my viewing. I did not feel like wasting my two hours at least, but I still wonder whether this is necessary, and I will simply let you decide whether you will watch it or not.