‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina’ Review: Ana de Armas Fights ‘Like a Girl’ — That Is, Like Jane Wick — in an Entertaining Ultraviolent Spin-Off

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In the film “From the John Wick Universe: Ballerina,” Ana de Armas plays Eve Macarro, a ballerina turned assassin of Ruska Roma lineage who learns a unique fighting style from her mentor Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). During training, Nogi advises Eve with a fierce glance, “Fight like a girl.” This phrase isn’t meant to be derogatory but rather symbolizes the idea that women should leverage their feminine qualities in combat, as they may not possess the same raw strength as men. This concept has been prevalent in female-centric action films for years, dating back to the “Batman” TV series where Yvonne De Carlo’s Batgirl employed graceful karate kicks while Batman and Robin relied on brute force. In movies like “La Femme Nikita,” “Wonder Woman,” and now “Ballerina,” the phrase “Fight like a girl” has become a powerful way of emphasizing equality. The end credits’ song in “Ballerina” is titled “Fight Like a Girl,” performed by Evanescence and K.Flay.

However, it’s somewhat amusing that this situation presents an irony. In the movie “Ballerina,” which takes place between “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “John Wick: Chapter 4,” the Eve character we encounter doesn’t fight like a stereotype might expect a girl to. Instead, she demonstrates the same ruthless intensity and resourceful combat style as John Wick. She handles firearms such as pistols and machine guns with ease, breaks limbs, slashes throats, and even gouges eyes. She uses kitchen utensils as weapons, slices enemies with a samurai sword, and destroys them with grenades. She even utilizes ice skates as nunchucks and engages in an unprecedented duel using flamethrowers in the film’s climax. The takeaway: Modern girls are just as capable of fighting fiercely as anyone else.

Despite being right in the midst of chaos, Ana de Armas radiates a peaceful serenity reminiscent of the show’s leading character. Interestingly enough, when Keanu Reeves was cast as John Wick in 2014, there was an unexpected charm to it because, from his roles in “Bill and Ted” to “Little Buddha” to “The Matrix,” Reeves had a subtly detached demeanor that hinted at Zen-like tranquility. In the John Wick series, this calmness transformed into ruthless violence. Similarly, Ana de Armas, an expressive actress, maintains her composed, rosebud-lipped demeanor throughout “Ballerina,” earning her the nickname “Jane Wick.

The storyline, for your curiosity, leans towards the less refined side, but that’s perfectly fine. In the initial scene, we see young Eve, portrayed by Victoria Comte, witness her father’s brutal demise at the hands of soldiers dispatched by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), leader of a sinister warrior cult they all belonged to. Eve is subsequently saved by Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who reappears as John Wick’s guide, now also playing the role of Eve’s protector. He places her under the supervision of the Director (Anjelica Huston, reminiscent of a blend between Tim Burton and Madame Tussauds), who governs the Ruska Roma with an unyielding grip, transforming ballet class into a violent exercise and staging combat training as if it were ballet. However, the Ruska Roma and the Chancellor’s cult have a long-standing tradition of maintaining distance from each other. When Eve ventures out into the world and takes vengeance upon those responsible for her father’s death by brandishing a henchman with an incriminating X mark on his wrist, she disrupts this age-old truce.

In the second half of the movie, the action unfolds in a snowy European mountain village, hidden away, where the Chancellor’s cult resides in secrecy. It’s Eve against everyone there, but complicating matters is the arrival of a ruthless assassin whose true identity remains concealed. He’s been sent to eliminate Eve, yet his allegiances might shift. “Ballerina” is considered a good addition to the “John Wick” series, although I make this statement as someone who isn’t particularly fond of the entire “John Wick” collection. By the end, Ana de Armas has demonstrated that fighting like a woman or a man doesn’t have to be significantly different, especially when it resembles combat in a video game.

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2025-06-05 01:17