Ballerina
The best parts of Ballerina are the John Wick scenes, and it’s not even close. Unfortunately, the action sequences without Keanu is not up to snuff with the rest of the John Wick franchise. MANY cuts, and the stuntwork was just not what Keanu has brought to the table. Minor spoiler, but there is a whole flamethrower sequence that is just… embarrassing. Cinema has never understood flamethrowers very well, and this sequence felt almost like an Austin Powers spoof. It was bad. All that said, I still had fun with it, and will watch any thing on the big screen from the John Wick universe.
-Z
The John Wick franchise is one of my favorites of all time - I will never stop being amazed by Keanu Reeves’ fighting choreography style. This film definitely brought us back to that world, and I was surprised by the amount of John Wick we got, but the style here felt a little bit more cheap and flashy. Some great scenes, but the action and story were not quite at the John Wick level. Still a very fun watch!
-E
"You are Him. The one they call the Baba Yaga. How do I start doing what you do?" -Eve
I need to preface this: I haven't seen all the John Wick films. I was planning on watching all four as in-flight entertainment for a vacation, but I couldn't get them downloaded. So, going into this, I'd only seen the first and the last John Wick. Because of this, I think it allowed me to like the film more than Z and E did. I thought it was an interesting deeper look into the John Wick universe and also showed the introduction into the program. I know Z was disappointed in the action, as it's not as good as John Wick, but luckily for this review, I don't have that comparison. One last thing I liked about this film in comparison to the John Wicks (more so the fourth than the first) is that it seemed to have actual dialogue instead of just repeating action. Overall, I think Ballerina is worth watching and will most likely get me to watch the two John Wicks I'm missing. I think it's a must-watch if you like the series!
-J
