“From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,” despite its cumbersome title, is a first-rate action picture that includes new elements in fighting and weaponry. The plot is very basic and primal as it centers around revenge and the acting is competent but not extraordinary. Everything in this movie, nonetheless, is subjugated to the superb and creative action scenes, so nothing else really matters.

At the beginning of the film, we see Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) with her father Javier (David Castaneda) on a beach. He gives her a music box which features a ballerina figurine. He mentions her missing sister.

In their home, an army of people arrive to kill Javier. Entering the home, Javier tries to protect Eve, hiding her behind a secret door from which she can watch what is happening. After some fighting in which her father easily wins, he is subdued. An ominous figure, the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) arrives and lectures Javier about his attempt to flee the cult in which he was a member.

Javier is able to turn the tables and escape with Eve. He plants a time-bomb and they race to escape. Javier is shot but they get to the outside as the building explodes. Eve makes it to the beach as her father dies.

Eve is next seen in a hallway of some facility or other where Winston (Ian McShane) encounters her and gives her a bizarre pep talk. He takes her to see the Director (Anjelica Huston) of Ruska Roma. Eve agrees to become a student and meets an instructor, Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster).

As the years progress, Eve is seen learning ballet and failing. She is beaten up in combat training. But over time progress is made as Nogi gives her some good advice.

Ruska Roma trains assassins like John Wick. Eve soon is recruited to go on her first mission. She needs to protect a target from abduction at a dance club. When things go south, she engages in her first actual battle sequence. Here we start to see her skill at using everyday objects as weapons.

When she questions the Director about her father and who killed him, Eve is informed that she is not to get involved in any way with hunting her father’s murderer. Naturally Eve disobeys and goes to the Continental in New York where she shows a coin given to her by Winston long ago.

Winston directs her to the Continental Hotel in Prague. Once she is there, she becomes involved with another killer, Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus) who is trying to protect his daughter. He is another person trying to escape the cult that Eve’s father was involved with.

They fight off attempted assassins and escape. In the end, Pine’s daughter is kidnapped by the Chancellor and taken to his Austrian hideout. Eve is almost killed by the Prague Hotel staff but she points out that she didn’t actually kill anybody on the premises and is freed.

Will Eve find the Austrian village? Will she avenge her father’s murder? What about Daniel’s daughter? Will the Director send someone to stop her?

I have seen all four John Wick movies. My take on them is that I truly enjoyed and admired the first film. The rest were not so great as the Wick Universe became more convoluted. They seemed like little more than cash cows to me as the producers raked in more money with each installment.

So this picture was like a breath of fresh air in that regard. It is set during the third movie, John Wick: Chapter 3: Parabellum (another awful title). Early in the film we see John Wick being brought to Ruska Roma. Eve regards him with god-like reverence and he gives her advice that she ignores.

There are many annoying elements in this film. The first are the confrontations between the Chancellor and the Director. They each threaten the other with “consequences” and yet little happens. Their bluffing and pontificating becomes pompous and boring.

The second annoying element is found at the beginning of the film. Javier and Eve are living in what looks like a massive fortress. How did that happen if he is on the run? I also found it ludicrous that an entire army of people were sent in to kill one person. You knew that this was just an excuse for action. The Chancellor’s appearance at this place is like Captain Kirk and top-level staff going down to a planet when lackeys could do this. The Chancellor doesn’t need to be there except to give the obligatory speech.

A third annoying element is how these characters defy the laws of physics and anatomy/physiology. It makes for great action scenes, but ruins the credibility of the story.

All that being said, then there are the action sequences. They are incredible in their execution and creativity. Eve is a different kind of fighter. She has strength and can fight mano-a-mano. But the way that the script incorporates different everyday objects as weapons of death is very impressive, if not indeed instructional.

There is a wonderful sequence in a gun-dealer’s location. Here she uses grenades to attack her pursuers. The editing is quick and literally explosive.

Later on in the movie, Eve and an opponent use competing flamethrowers against each other. The artistry involved by the filmmakers in creating this effect is a marvel. Later she has to use a water hose against a flamethrower, another super visual effect.

This is a film where you have to do a shout-out to the stunt people. Their work, coupled with effective editing and cinematography, is first-rate. The fight choreography, which is a hallmark of the series, is up to its usual level.

As for acting, I found Keanu Reeves’ performance as John Wick to be robotic. His spouting of platitudes is uninteresting so perhaps the material is to blame.

My favorite actor is Ian McShane as Winston. He lends an air of believability and an acceptance of life as it really is. His acting is understated but formidable in tone.

This film is a mix. Critically, it does not fare well in certain categories. But then, on the other hand, you have great cinema being shown in terms of the action genre. I very much enjoyed watching this picture despite my criticisms.

Three-and-a-half out of five stars

Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.

Cast: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, with Ian McShane, and Keanu Reeves
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Written by: Shay Hatten
Based on Characters by: Derek Kolstad