3 min to read
Ballerina
How good is the first John Wick spinoff movie?
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I think Ana de Armas is a great addition to the world of John Wick, but there were parts of it from a filmmaking perspective that really frustrated me.
Like always, the main highlights of this movie are the big action set pieces and the incredible fight choreography that went along with it. I’m amazed at how they are able to come up with new and inventive stunts movie after movie for this franchise (the flamethrower scenes were just incredible), and I love how they are able to keep expanding the lore in a way that is intriguing and unique unlike any other franchise going on right now.
As for my frustrations with the film, most of my frustration with this movie is around the filmmaking side of the movie. Not to put down Ana de Armas and the work she put in for this movie, but it’s apparent from her fighting sequences that she is no Keanu Reeves. While she does an incredible job at what she is given, she is unable to give everything needed in order to be a full John Wick experience. There are certain stunts and action sequences that felt like they were restricted in scope simply due to her inexperience with intense action, and, on top of it, there were several times where the camera work also had to play it safe to be more stable during shooting. You could tell this immediately when there was fight sequences that included John Wick. These sequences felt so different (for the better), it really made me sad that they weren’t able to give Ana the chance for her sequences to go from a B to an A+. I know I’m making it sound like her sequences were terrible - they weren’t. It was just so apparent that the sequences not including Ana were just better produced (better choreography, better camera work, etc.), and it’s sad they didn’t allow her scenes to pop as much as other scenes in the film.
In addition to inherently being worse at action than Keanu, there are some inherent strengths that Ana has that Keanu doesn’t. These strengths should have been found and exploited by the stunt team. Just like Caine had the martial arts and fighting skills of Donnie Yen in John Wick 4, they should have found and exploited Ana’s strengths in order to make her character feel distinct in the world and also feel original and unique. What makes it worse is that the movie doesn’t even show you what some of her strengths and uniquenesses are, making her at times feel like a generic assassin at points instead of a lovable character. And to make it worse, while training to be an assassin she is literally told to “fight like a girl,” whatever that means (and they never say what it means).
What also hindered the enjoyment of the film just a bit was the fact that all of the best action sequences of the film were all shown during the trailers. These sequences would have been so much more enjoyable if not shown in the trailers as the WOW factor was lost for me. My first impression of the scenes was “this is the part from the trailer” instead of “I’ve never seen this before, this is incredible,” which was a complete disservice to the film. The only action sequence that was new to me was the opening 15 minutes, and while it was very well done, it was just the opening 15 minutes.
Overall, this is still a great movie. If you are wanting to see some very well thought out and put together action sequences, this is a movie for you to watch. I just wish some parts of the movie were thought through more so Eve (Ana’s character) could be unique and distinct within this vast, evolving, and developing world.
Rating: 4/5
Comments