The remainder of the non-Wick solid is forgettable as properly, with Byrne’s Chancellor and his whole regime badly underdeveloped, and Reedus fully wasted in what quantities to perhaps two scenes. McShane, Reddick, and Huston simply undergo their paces, spouting plenty of portentous traces about “alternative” and “destiny” that ring largely hole, as does a late-stage twist that carries no weight as a result of one of many characters concerned barely registers.
As for the Baba Yaga himself, the largely non-verbal Reeves is the “Chekhov’s gun” of the movie: launched briefly within the first act, he inevitably turns up once more within the third act, parachuted in by the magic of rumored reshoots though his contribution to the narrative quantities to completely nothing. It’s at all times good to see him, however if you happen to took him out, it wouldn’t drastically change the image.
Talking of reshoots, there’s a Frankenstein nature to the proceedings that gives proof for the experiences that Wick director (and franchise torch-bearer) Chad Stahelski refilmed a lot of the film after Wiseman’s first draft got here up brief. Whereas the primary act is a murky, enervated slog, issues appear to choose up within the center, with a extra eye-catching colour scheme (comparable to a sequence in a neon-lit membership harking back to an analogous scene in the magnificent John Wick: Chapter 4), a artistic, free-flowing use of the digital camera, and among the extra ingenious, oddball motion that has turn into half and parcel of the franchise—most notably in a scene the place de Armas and an enemy smash a pile of dinner plates over one another’s heads with manic Three Stooges-like vitality.
Sadly, there’s additionally a sadistic edge to a whole lot of the motion this time as properly, notably in a climactic combat involving flamethrowers that badly desires to emulate the well-known overhead residence shot from John Wick: Chapter 4 however goes on for much too lengthy and finally turns into actively disagreeable. That’s an issue with even the higher motion available in Ballerina, as if the filmmakers need to make up for the movie’s deficiencies by overdoing what the collection is finest identified for.
Hatten’s script was an unique piece that was rewritten to suit into the John Wick universe, with components launched in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum to pave the way in which for the arrival of Eve and Ballerina. However this reverse engineering highlights the pitfalls of attempting to create a cinematic universe with out stopping to wonder if it’s a good suggestion.
Watching John Wick stonily combat and slaughter his means by means of his off-center world and its inhabitants of funky, eccentric weirdos has been implausible enjoyable (the specter of an arc-undermining John Wick 5 however) due to the distinctive nature of the character and that world. However dropping the extra standard, cliched tropes of Ballerina into the combo, together with a protagonist (and actor) not practically as compelling, solely exemplifies that the John Wick films are character-driven before everything. All of the brutal motion, heavy-handed callbacks, and predictable cameos on this planet can’t make this Ballerina into a greater dancer.