Ballerina expands the John Wick world through a lead whose anger and vulnerability matter as much as her ability to kill. Eve Macarro's training with the Ruska Roma and her personal revenge give the film familiar foundations. Ana de Armas supplies the force that makes them work.
The film shares the series' stylised lighting and tightly organised violence without simply turning Eve into another Wick. She is furious, uncertain and wounded. De Armas lets those contradictions remain visible even when the action demands precision.
The fights are brutal and carefully choreographed, with enough clarity to avoid being swallowed by post-production. A flamethrower sequence stays with me because of the emotional boundary it suggests for Eve, not only the spectacle. The action has something to express about its central character.
Returning faces add weight without taking possession of her story. Keanu Reeves has a limited role, which feels right. Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston and Lance Reddick contribute familiarity and presence; Gabriel Byrne gives the opposition sufficient authority.
Len Wiseman's direction is more restrained than I expected. Clear images, dark atmosphere and music that supports rather than overwhelms the scene help the film maintain its own tone. The revenge plot is hardly new, some dialogue is awkward and a few passages could be tighter.
I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. For all its familiar ingredients, Ballerina makes hard action feel personal. De Armas is the reason its character remains more than a tally of kills. The unnecessarily cumbersome full title is another matter: Ballerina would do perfectly well.