Film: Ballerina: From the World of John Wick
Cast: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Norman Reedus, Keanu Reeves, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Director: Len Wiseman
Rating: * *1/2
Runtime: 125 min.

This film is a John Wick spin-off that hopes to score with its never-ending series of fight sequences. Director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Shay Hatten follow the strictly formulated traditions of the series, albeit with a female protagonist engaging in high-intensity gun battles. The franchise is obviously wanting to make a fresh killing at the Box office after having grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
 
The events in this film take place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum. Eve Macarro( Ana de Armas), who saw her father being murdered as a child, gets taken in by a benevolent man and begins her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma, where she has to learn ballet as well as fight and dodge bullets.

Anjelica Huston, as a Ruska Roma crime queen known as “The Director,” puts her through her routines until her toes begin to bleed and then quite nonchalantly tells her to tend her wounds before she can get sepsis. In between those punishing ballet classes, Eve is kept busy with shooting and martial arts training. After becoming an exceptionally talented assassin, Eve embarks on an unauthorised vendetta to hunt down her father’s murderer. This rogue mission draws the ire of the formidable Ruska Roma organisation and The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). Eve is forced to confront her past and the brutal consequences of her choices.

The intricate action-packed universe of John Wick continues its compelling expansion into this shadowy society of assassins with visceral style and panache, but there’s not much else. The story has been done to death, and the plotting follows generic traditions.
 
Keanu Reeves as the taciturn hitman, marks his presence midway through the film and then much later in the climax. Dressed in black, as is wont, he is there long enough to get rid of a bunch of would-be killers and give Eve a dressing down about “choice,” “rules” and “consequences.”