Richard Crouse

SYNOPSIS: Taking place between the events of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Ballerina,” sees Ana de Armas as a newly minted Ruska Roma assassin looking to exact revenge for her father’s death. “Your childhood was taken from you,” says her mentor (Anjelica Huston), “It’s that pain that drives you.”

CAST: Ana de Armas, Gabriel Byrne, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Anjelica Huston, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves. Directed by Len Wiseman.

REVIEW: A sequel ready spin-off of the “John Wick” movies, it’s a shame that “Ballerina’s” storytelling isn’t quite as agile as its main character.

The origin story of Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), “Ballerina” begins with childhood trauma. After witnessing the murder of her father at the hands of a killer cult, she follows in the footsteps of John Wick to become a highly trained Ruska Roma assassin.

With vengeance on her mind, and “Lux in tenebris,” a Latin phrase that translates to “light in darkness” tattooed on her back, she vows to hunt down the man responsible for the father-sized void in her life.

The story of rules and consequences—”When you deal in blood there must be rules or nothing matters,” says Ruska Roma Director (Angelica Huston)—borrows the framework of “John Wick” but forgets to bring the fun.

The first Wick film was a masterclass in restrained filmmaking. Well, perhaps that’s not exactly the word, the body count is too high to be considered restrained, but it was economical in its approach. The stripped-down storytelling eliminated any excess. From its set-up to blood-soaked finale, it was uncompromisingly lean and mean.

“Ballerina’s” approach feels overstuffed and yet slack by comparison. Director Len Wiseman allows the story to get tangled up as he interweaves the tale of Eva’s vengeance with Wick’s Wild World of Assassins.

Our introduction to Eva should come with high stakes. If John Wick is willing to reign holy hell down on the men responsible for the death of his dog, imagine what Eva could do to avenge her father. There will be blood, but because we only see the father at the beginning of the film, the stakes don’t seem all that elevated. Instead, “Ballerina” is a series of Wickian set pieces supervised by Chad Stahelski that provide the appropriate amount of gun-fu and face stomping, etc that you would expect, but apart from two standout sequences the action has a sameness that made me agree with Gabriel Byrne’s character when he said near thew end of the movie, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

Two of the action scenes, however, deliver the kind of inventiveness you expect from a Wick movie. A high kicking set piece in a restaurant features a plate smashing scene that is funny, a bit ridiculous and creative and a literal fire fight adds visual pizazz but much of the action looks like generic video game violence.

“Ballerina” delivers on the franchise’s promise of a high body count but suffers from low stakes and a serious case of “off-shoot-itis.” Stuck somewhere between trying to replicate the vibe of the Wick films and forging a new path within that universe, it’s mired in the mushy middle.