{"id":31402,"date":"2025-06-05T00:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T07:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31402"},"modified":"2025-06-05T00:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T07:13:10","slug":"ballerina-features-top-notch-showdowns-but-a-routine-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31402","title":{"rendered":"BALLERINA Features Top-Notch Showdowns, But a Routine Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 125 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Lionsgate Films is playing exclusively\nin cinemas on June 6th, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, it seems that film franchises never die. While\nthe hit John Wick<\/em> action series seemed to come to a close after the\nfourth movie in 2023 (or., at least, for the time being), even the final tag at\nthe end of the previous chapter suggested that the makers were ready to begin\nintroducing spin-offs. In only a couple of years, the first effort has arrived\nand is called Ballerina<\/em> or From the World of John Wick: Ballerina<\/em>\n(even I\u2019m still not sure exactly what the preferred moniker is). The end\nresults are a mixed bag. The story is far too routine and predictable, but the\nfilm admittedly delivers a few top-notch showdowns that will please action\nfans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of this tale is set between the events of the third\nand fourth John Wick<\/em> movies. It opens years earlier with a flashback\nintroducing a young Eve Macarro (Victoria Comte) witnessing her father being\nmurdered by a sinister organization. She is soon taken in by the Director\n(Angelica Huston), head of the Ruska Roma organization, who train her to be an\nelite killer. Determined to get revenge, the adult Eve (Ana de Armas) defies\norders and seeks out the man responsible for making her an orphan. This figure,\nknown as the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), runs a cult of highly skilled, heavily\narmed killers. On her journey, Eve crosses paths with familiar underworld\nfigures, including Charon (Lance Reddick), Winston Scott (Ian McShane), and\neven John Wick (Keanu Reeves) as she slays as many of the Chancellor\u2019s team as\nshe can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s pretty much all there is to the story. The Eve\ncharacter is solely motivated by revenge and never relents until the end\ncredits roll. Armas certainly has the skills to kick butt and easily sells the\nphysical scenes involving brutal punches, kicks, shootings, as well as lopping,\nslicing and dicing, and even blowing up foes. But, as noted, early on it all\nfeels familiar and slight.  A young girl is traumatized by a brutal\nattack, goes through a lengthy training process, and comes out the other side\ntaking down random villains against neon-lit backdrops. It\u2019s also odd that,\ndespite the increasing brutality being brought on the protagonist, she always\nseems to come away without a single bruise (and only a visible cut or two on\nher forehead).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot of fan service in the first half as well,\nwith many drop ins from familiar characters. This will be exciting to those who\ncan\u2019t get enough of the franchise, but if you were already growing weary of it\nall by the previous title, the cameos just slow the plot down. Additionally,\nthe Chancellor and his villainous cult aren\u2019t fully developed. Characters\nmention how dangerous the group are and how no one who joins them can ever\nleave (which is what sets the movie\u2019s events in motion), but their official\ndirective or their plan for world domination is never revealed nor even\ndiscussed in great detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, as events become more exaggerated, there is\ngruesome fun to be had. Fight scenes in the second half of the feature begin\nafter Eve arrives at a snowy, lakeside village. These showdowns are\nentertainingly over-the-top and very well-choreographed. The action is more\ncreative and inventive, also benefiting from the unique and picturesque, winter\nenvironment. The lead literally mows down the entire town in delirious fashion\nwith an incredible variety of implements. There is also an enjoyable appearance\nfrom another notable killer during the final act fracas that adds a bit of fun\ninterplay, and dark levity to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ana de Armas is a charismatic presence and definitely\ndelivers the action heroics. The big battles in the final half of the movie are\na blast to witness. It\u2019s unfortunate that there isn\u2019t a particularly original\nstory, or much in the way of motivation for the villains that might add more\ndrama to the story. Clearly, the intent is to expand and elaborate in possible\nfuture installments, but one would expect that in a two-hour-plus feature, some\nmore time could be devoted to these elements. Yes, Ballerina<\/em> manages to\nget the job done and will likely keep the franchise alive, but doesn\u2019t make as\nbig a splash as it could have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 125 minutes This feature from Lionsgate Films is playing exclusively in cinemas on June 6th, 2025. These days, it seems that film franchises never die. While the hit John Wick action series seemed to come to a close after the fourth movie in 2023 (or., at least, for the time being), even the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,697,1329,2252,2253,2254,2255,2256,7978,8040,9614,10917,11533,12058,18035,18856],"class_list":["post-31402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-action","tag-ana-de-armas","tag-ballerina","tag-ballerina-film-review","tag-ballerina-movie-review","tag-ballerina-review","tag-ballerina-from-the-world-of-john-wick","tag-from-the-world-of-john-wick-ballerina","tag-gabriel-byrne","tag-ian-mcshane","tag-john-wick","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-lance-reddick","tag-sequel","tag-spin-off"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}