The Mosley Review: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

Think of your favorite sandwich shop. You know what type of bread you like, what type of meat you want and however many toppings you need and the quantity of them. Everytime you buy that sandwich, it hits the spot and you are truly full and happy. The next time you go into said sandwich shop, you decide you want to experiment and order a different sandwich. Its the same sandwich place you love and the quality is there, but this particular sandwich taste different and yet is still fulfilling. That's how I classify spinoffs to a well known franchise in general and the same goes for the John Wick Saga as well. Quality control is key and this film continues that same quality with some new flavor that is not artificial and actually adds to the wonderfully crafted world of assassins. The training and action sequences carry that same brutal weight of pain and inventive environmental control as you see the lead use her size to her advantage. I loved that the story wasn't as overly complicated, but it did lack in depth at times. I did love the depth of lore within the school the lead characters grows up in. Even if sometimes the characters were thin, the main motivation was clearly kept in the forefront by the excellent main character.

Ana de Armas leads this new revenge fueled tale as Eve Macarro. Not only does her magnetic charm shine through in the dialogue scenes, but her strength in all of the action scenes was astounding. Unlike other action heroines of recent, she actually looks like she could take the punishment of enemies twice her size and she fights like a woman! She takes the bumps, the slams, the cuts, hard kicks and keeps on coming. Like Charlize Theron, Milla Jovovich and Halle Barry, she has joined the ranks of women that kickass in my opinion. When she's not fighting, Ana delivers the emotional depth of the character and I enjoyed her chemistry with the great Ian McShane as Winston. The man never ceases to deliver and for the amount of time we share with him, he was fun and charming. The late Lance Reddick delivers his final performance as our favorite receptionist, Charon. His charm, warmth and witty banter is not lost here and it was wonderful to spend a little more time with him. Anjelica Huston returns as the Director, the leader of the Ruska Roma. I liked that we got a closer look into the school and the training that all of her students go through. The level of brutality and precision was cool to see fully realized. Norman Reedus was good as the protective father, Daniel Pine. He continues to be an awesome on screen gruff type of character, but when he is with his daughter Ella, played by Ava McCarthy, he brings his loving side. Keanu Reeves returns as John Wick and he is the same character we all love. He carries that same aura of death around him as he goes after Eve. Not only does Keanu bring out the killer side of the character, but also a sort of mentoring feel to John when they meet. Their interactions were a highlight of the film and of course, John racks up a good body count. Gabriel Byrne is always charismatic and sinister in a villain role and he was just that as the illusive cult leader, The Chancellor.

Accompanied by Tyler Bates, Joel J. Richard composed the bombastic score that has the classic John Wick theme incorporated when necessary. Their score together was thrilling, sometimes haunting and all around awesome. The action sequences are really the star of the film here and like I said before, Ana de Armas was excellent in all of them. Her physicality during some truly punishing set pieces and sometimes hilarious moments, were well executed. The glass plates was a great gag, but the real crescendo of the film was the shootout with flamethrowers. The only gripe I have was that there were times I felt that the action was starting to get stale and dragged on a bit too long. The story wasn't the strongest, but it was a decent catalyst. This may not have been the best entry to the John Wick franchise, but its a good building block if they want to continue with Eve. Let me know what you thought of the film or my review in the comments below. Thanks for reading!