Ballerina

"Fantastic action/revenge movie. Super cool hero to root for. Horrible bad guys you don’t. The action may be sparse by some but it’s worth it to see these scenes that had me audibly screaming and jump up in the air cheering. Ripe for a sequel. Just fantastic if this is your genre. "

"With rumors that Chad Stehelski (director of the Wick franchise) had to come in and reshot wide swaths of the film because what had been shot didn’t work, I was expecting Ballerina to be a mess. However, it ended up being a surprisingly solid John Wick spin-off. The Good: The action sequences are fun and pretty consistent. They aren’t as extravagant as the scenes in Wick 4 but it has they same slapstick-y vibe that the last couple of entries have had (there is even a fight with a TV remote where The 3 Stooges come on the screen, as if to say “Yes, we’re aware”). Armas does a good job with the action. The movie, wisely, doesn’t try to hide how small she is and she gets rag dolled around a lot and she doesn’t do a ton of straight hand-to-hand fighting. The action scenes are varied and she never feels like she doesn’t belong there. The Meh: I wish they’d given Armas a character or a style that made her stand out more (like they did with Donnie Yen in the last movie). She is very much doing a John Wick impression. She is stoic, silent and very serious. She’s not as charismatic as Reeves, so she suffers by comparison. There is one scene she escapes because one of the guards dismisses her as a threat. It would’ve been interesting if they’d leaned into that idea more and she would’ve used the idea that she’s not perceived as a threat as a weapon. The storyline was fine but not particularly memorable. You can feel the movie pop to life whenever characters from the previous films showed up but none of the new characters leave much of an impression. I wish I hadn’t saw the trailer because it gave away a lot of the plot, action scenes and character appearances. I think it would’ve been more fun and surprising going in blind. The Bad: Nothing particularly stands out. You can feel that some scenes were really Frankensteined together but I think I noticed them because I knew about the production problems ahead of time. cont…"

"surprised at how much i enjoyed this. thought it would be a cash grab spinoff to a great action series but they really committed to this and made a compelling film in the wick universe. it has pretty much all the elements of a john wick while also being its own thing. ana de armas gives this her all and manages to sustain the intensity of her brief action sequence from no time to die. can’t wait to watch: BA||ERINA BALL3RINA BALLERIN4"

"R"

"In the wick universe, had decent story,action. "

"Really good action movie. Could be called action-slop, but I’d say they do too good of a job to put it down to that level. You like fighting, you like guns, you like flamethrowers? Watch this movie. No, you won’t regret it, unless you’re looking for a movie to appeal more to your deeper emotions."

"It was good but the need add John Wick because I keep on seeing him half of the time"

"Really impressed by this John Wick universe film. Ana De Armas did amazingly and this is exactly what a John Wick movie should be; gratuitous violence, a cool setting, and largely unrealistic fight scenes that look great. This is just a fun movie to watch. There are a few moments I didn't love (the go-girl-power end credits song, the overpowered-male-character-we-cant-kill-now trope), but I do plan to rewatch this and largely enjoyed it."

"The action here is pretty solid but not as clean and smooth as Wick. It was interesting to get the back story on the ballerina school, but the story itself was lacking. It was a revenge story but didn't really feel authentic. It felt more like and excuse for the action sequences. I will say I liked how they did not just make her a female Wick. They address the fact that she is highly trained but she will always be weaker and at a disadvantage so she has to approach her confrontations that way. They go a bit too far as she survives multiple grenades and a flame thrower fired at her point blank. This does take place in the timeline somewhere around Wick 3 so you do see Keanu a couple of times. You get to see him in action which was cool but served as a reminder there are 4 other movies that cover this material that are far better than this one. They did set up a possible sequel, but I think its better as a one off. It was solid but nothing you need to rush out and see. Please check out my podcast Mostly Low Budget Movie Reviews with Clarence for a full breakdown. On all streaming platforms. Low Budget Movie Reviews with Clarence on Youtube. Links in the Bio. Thank you! "

"Love this. Huge of fan of John Wick so I’m 100% biased. I also love that Ana de Armas gets the spotlight here as the lead in this movie. She does a great job and the section in this movie continues to be a spectacle detailed action and “that’s f****** cool” moments. 9/10"