Trained in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma, Eve Macarro takes on an army of killers as she seeks revenge against those responsible for the death of her father…
Review by Tim Robins
SPOILER ALERT: PLOT SECRETS MAY BE REVEALED BELOW!
Ballerina is a fairy tale told through the medium of mixed martial arts, stabbing, and flame thrower fights. A young girl, Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), is orphaned after her father is assassinated by a gang of killers who refuse to play by the rules. Maccarro is taken into the care of a clan of particularly violent gypsies, who train her in the ways of assassination and ballet dancing.
If you’re not familiar with “the World of John Wick”, don’t worry. Everything is clearly spelt out through action and minimum of talk. A few lines of dialogue point you in the right direction, that direction being the picturesque village of Hallstatt in Austria – here posing as an entire village of assassins.
The film is a James Bond movie of sorts, with Anjelica Houston as ‘The Director’ (M) and Abraham Popoola as a Prague-based arms dealer, who serves as this movie’s Q by supplying Eve with an array of big guns. Gabriel Byrne plays ‘The Chancellor’, the surly big bad, and is accompanied by Dex, the film’s take on Herr Stamper from Tomorrow Never Dies.
There’s plenty of Wick world continuity for aficionados, including The Continental, a hotel for assassins, and a gold coin given for services expected. The story is set after the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and, yes, Keanu Reeves makes an appearance. (His first appearance is fleeting, but his second is satisfactorily woven into the climax, without detracting from de Armas’s central role in the film).
The ballet backdrop doesn’t come to much, other than to suggest Eve’s determination to succeed in the face of a lack of ability. I suppose it would stray too far into the realms of camp if she were to use Port de bras to beat her foes into submission.
The film is not without a sense of humour. One scene has Eve fight on ice, but the combatants reach for ice skates only to use them as slashing blades. In another scene, a gun is hidden below a pile of plates, which have to be smashed to reach it.
Since both sides are wrong ‘uns, I didn’t find myself cheering for either. Instead, emotional involvement is provided by using children to tug at the heartstrings. Young Eve is not only orphaned but, as an adult, witnesses an abduction that could lead another child, the daughter of a cult member, Daniel Pine, to suffer the same fate. Victoria Comte is the young Eve, while Ava McCarthy plays Ella Pine, the Chancellor’s granddaughter and Pine’s daughter. Compte and McCarthy play their roles with conviction.
I will note that although Hallstatt is an arresting location, I felt the fight through its streets lacked clarity. I lost track of where the villain was located, and how far Eve was from him. Instead, the final fight is time restricted – Eve must defeat The Chancellor by midnight (another fairy tale motiff) or war between the clans will become inevitable.
I can’t say that I was thrilled to see Ballerina. Punch ‘em Ups aren’t really my bag. Also, the film has had decidedly lukewarm reviews, enjoying what has been described as an underwhelming opening weekend at the US box office, making just $24m (£17.8m).
It’s more than likely that fans just want more Keanu Reeves. What gets on my wick is that Ballerina is likely to reinforce the idea that women can’t play the lead in action movies. But I really appreciated the move away from tight-jawed men growling about some honour code or other.
Some have thrown shade on the film’s title. Al Horner of BBC Culture gathered evidence that the film’s name was responsible for the film’s poor box office, noting complaints from across the internet.
So, we learn, Deadline observed, “Ballerina doesn’t scream action film”. Fans apparently took to Reddit (a force for nothing in particular) to say: “Would your average moviegoer unplugged from the [media] hype know it’s full of kick-ass fight scenes, from that word on a poster, on a cinema marquee?”.
Of course, the “average audience member” is a shibboleth in all kinds of fandoms. I’m pretty sure audiences don’t entirely go to movies without knowing about them. (What? Wicked? Nobody told me that it was a musical!).
I hope Ballerina does well. The film is an entertaining action adventure, even if it arrived in cinemas without enough ballyhoo.
Tim Robins
Ballerina is in cinemas now
Dear reader, a review is an opinion. Other opinions are available, including yours
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A freelance journalist and Doctor Who fanzine editor since 1978, Tim Robins has written on comics, films, books and TV programmes for a wide range of publications including Starburst, Interzone, Primetime and TV Guide.
His brief flirtation with comics includes ghost inking a 2000AD strip and co-writing a Doctor Who strip with Mike Collins. Since 1990 he worked at the University of Glamorgan where he was a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Media Studies and the social sciences. Academically, he has published on the animation industry in Wales and approaches to social memory. He claims to be a card carrying member of the Politically Correct, a secret cadre bent on ruling the entire world and all human thought.
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