Latest news with #TheWorldOfJohnWick:Ballerina
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ballerina Isn't The Hot Mess I Expected It To Be, But It Does Screw Up John Wick's Timeline
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina is one of the most hotly anticipated movies on the 2025 movie schedule. As a big fan of the franchise and the world it has created, it was high on my list, too. I was a little worried about how the reported problems with the production, including director Len Wiseman stepping away at one point because of a health issue, would turn it into a disaster on screen. I'm happy to report that it isn't the hot mess I feared it could be. Ballerina is actually pretty good. It does seem, however, that the production turmoil has led to a real problem with the franchise's timeline. Before I go any further, I have to make it clear that there will be major spoilers ahead for Ballerina (and the third and fourth John Wick movies, for that matter), so proceed with caution if you haven't seen the Ana de Armas-led action movie. Since very early on in the development of Ballerina, we've known that Keanu Reeves, who, of course, plays John Wick in four movies in the franchise, would make an appearance. We also knew that Ballerina would take place between the third and fourth installments of the John Wick movies. We just didn't know how big a role Reeves would have, or how it would work into the plot. Early in the movie, Eve (de Armas) sees Wick come to the theater where she is training with 'The Director,' played by Angelica Huston. What Eve sees, from a different perspective, is what audiences saw in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Wick is branded over his tattoo, indicating he is out of the Ruska Roma. As he is leaving the theater, he and Eve have a brief encounter. I have to wonder if this was originally supposed to be the full extent of Reeves' participation in the movie. It's well known that the director of the four principal John Wick movies, Chad Stahelski, stepped in after initial production wrapped to do re-shoots with Reeves, but just how much work he did is subject to debate. Some reports claim there were extensive re-shoots, but Stahelski himself has downplayed just how much he did. Stahelski told The Hollywood Reporter, We just went in for a couple of weeks. We changed some of the action sequences and made up for some time that Len just didn't have. He didn't have enough time to do some of the bigger shots that it deserved. Reeves' role is much bigger than I thought it would be, with Wick appearing in much of the final act. It seems that at least some of this footage is what Stahelski is responsible for. It is also the part of Ballerina that really messes with the franchise timeline. We know the story is supposed to take place between the third and fourth John Wick movies, and the first scene with Reeves in the theater seemingly confirms that, as we see the scene from Parabellum. We also know that Wick is in bad shape at the end of Parabellum, barely clinging to life after falling from the roof of The Continental. He's certainly not in any kind of shape to travel to Europe and take on a village of assassins, as he does alongside Eve in Ballerina. Most speculation is that there are about six months between Parabellum and Chapter Four, and we know that during that time, however long it is, he is recovering from his extensive injuries with The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne). We also know that Wick has been expelled from the Ruska Roma by The Director, yet it is Wick whom she calls to help Eve in the village of their rivals. There is no possible way that he could have gotten back in fighting shape and back on good terms with The Director in those few months between the third and fourth movies. The only possible explanation is that there is a much larger time jump between the first time Eve meets him at the theater and when he joins her in the mountain village. It has to come after the events of Chapter Four, and after Wick has again recovered from the injuries he received in that movie. Unfortunately, none of that is made clear, so we're left to wonder just what is going on. It seems entirely possible that the final fight scene in Ballerina could have come many months after the scene in the theater, as Eve has already completed both her training and her first mission protecting the daughter of a rich client. BUT – that's not actually possible either, as at the end of Ballerina we see Eve checking in to The Continental with Charon (Lance Reddick) at the front desk, and Charon was tragically killed in Chapter 4. In the end, there just isn't a way to explain how the timeline isn't screwed up by Ballerina. Either John Wick would be too beat up to be that powerful in the village, or Charon has come back from the dead. Either way, it makes no sense. That's not to say it ruins Ballerina or the John Wick franchise. Given the complications of the production and the film's delays, we all just need to be okay with the glitch in the matrix, so to speak. This film still delivers in the ways I want to see in the John Wick universe film, it's just a little frustrating that the creative forces behind the franchise have elegantly built a really fun world, and this is a blemish on it. If you want to catch up or rewatch all four John Wick movies, you can do so with a Peacock subscription, which is how I made sure I wasn't going crazy with these timeline questions. Peacock TV: from $7.99 a month/$79.99 a yearCatch up on all the John Wick movies and the prequel show The Continental only on Peacock. For as little as $7.99 a month, you can also pay more for Peacock Premium and enjoy ad-free streams of both and much Deal
Straits Times
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Ballerina movie review: Ana de Armas revives John Wick franchise, 4/5 stars
From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina (M18) 125 minutes, opens on June 5 ★★★★☆ The story: In the John Wick world of shadowy syndicates and the assassins who work for them, young Eve's father (David Castaneda) is murdered by an unknown clan. Winston (Ian McShane), manager of the haven for hired killers, the Continental Hotel, takes the girl under his wing. He sends her to Ruska Roma, an organisation that runs a ballet school training students to be graceful as they are deadly. Under the eye of the Director (Anjelica Huston), Eve (played by Ana de Armas as an adult) counts down the days till she can exact vengeance on the men who slayed her dad. The first spin-off from the Keanu Reeves-headlined John Wick franchise (2014 to 2023) possesses all the signature elements – the gun-fu, intense violence and weapons porn. It also has something that was lacking in the series' recent films: a story with a beginning, middle and end. At the centre of this origin story, set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), is Cuban-Spanish actress de Armas, who puts in a formidable performance as the seething agent of chaos. She is fiercely present, physically and emotionally. As a protagonist, Eve's compelling fury is much more relatable than Wick's ice-cold stoicism, which has been present since Reeves played the hired gun in the first film . The John Wick universe is inspired by – or some would say, a direct copy of – martial arts movies set in a feudal China or Japan pockmarked by feisty clans jostling for control. Ballerina would be the classic Hong Kong tale of an orphan raised in a Shaolin temple and trained to be invincible, so he or she might settle scores in a climactic showdown. There is a compelling simplicity to the orphaned avenger set-up that American director Len Wiseman (the Underworld film franchise, 2003 to 2016; Total Recall, 2012) exploits to the fullest. There is little of the overwrought lore that dragged down the last two John Wick movies – the stuff about the High Table and its elaborate rules of order is thankfully absent. The inclusion of Ruska Roma and the Continental Hotel is kept to a minimum and feels necessary to the story. To be fair, Wiseman has an easier job than four-time John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who has had to build a fantasy world over the past decade. By the fourth film, it was clear fatigue had set in, with the plot contrivances that move Wick from one fight to another becoming more strained and bloated. Ballerina does not squander its new story and protagonist on weak action. Its fights are stunningly choreographed, with one highlight being a battle set in Prague that features hand grenades as weapons. That segment offers maximum bang for the buck. This fresh start is a good move, one that bodes well for the future of the franchise as it heads into a fifth John Wick movie and a number of sequels and prequels – animated and live-action. Hot take: With new face de Armas, the John Wick franchise is revitalised with stunning action that feels fresh, not formulaic. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
