BALLERINA : Tuesday 10th June 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'BALLERINA' earlier this week, and this American action thriller film is the fifth film in the 'John Wick' franchise, and serves as a spin-off instalment that is Directed by Len Wiseman, whose prior feature film making credits are 'Underworld' in 2003, 'Underworld : Evolution' in 2006, 'Live Free or Die Hard' in 2007 and 'Total Recall' in 2012, as well as Producing 'Underworld : Rise of the Lycans' in 2009, 'Underworld : Awakening' in 2012, and 'Underworld : Blood Wars' in 2016. This film is also Co-Produced by Chad Stahelski who Directed the first four 'John Wick' films. The film was released here in Australia and the US last week, having so far grossed US$57M from a production budget of US$90M and has generated largely positive critical reviews. Allegedly as far back as March 2023 the studio announced it has plans to develop a sequel with de Armas returning to her role. 

The film opens with a young Eve Macarro (Victoria Comte) playing at ballet dancing with her father Javier (David Castaneda) in their lavish seaside villa. Javier is/was an assassin, a Kikimora for the Ruska Roma, and when Eve was younger he went on the run with his daughter to escape a Cult his wife was heavily involved with, which ultimately led to her death. The Cult's Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) wants to retrieve Eve, and so undercover of darkness the Cult lays siege to their residence, killing the guards and fatally wounding Javier, who helps Eve escape. New York Continental Hotel owner Winston Scott (Ian McShane) brings Eve to the Ruska Roma, where Eve meets their Director (Anjelica Huston) and agrees to join them.

Over the course of the ensuing twelve years Eve (Ana de Armas) trains as a ballerina and a Kikimora assassin/bodyguard under the Director and her mentor Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). Eve graduates as a Kikimora after killing a fellow Kikimora, as a final test to truly assess that she has what it takes. After completing a contract some two months later, Eve is attacked by an assassin, whom she kills and identifies as a Cultist from a scar of a cross burned onto his wrist. She asks the Director about the Cult, wanting revenge. The Director forbids Eve from chasing down the Cult due to a centuries old truce between the Cult and the Ruska Roma.

Eve disobeys the Director and visits the New York Continental, where Charon, the Hotel Concierge (Lance Reddick, in his final screen appearance following his death in March 2023, aged 60) grants her a meeting with Winston. Winston reveals that one Cultist, Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus), is staying at the Prague Continental with a US$2M bounty on him, so Eve travels there and books a room directly next to his. Several Cultists are also there, led by Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno), waiting for the bounty's fulfilment. 

Eve infiltrates Pine's room, discovering his young daughter Ella (Ava McCarthy), whom Pine reveals is hiding from the Cult, having escaped from them. When the Cult sees that Eve has not killed Pine, Lena increases the bounty to US$4M. The Cultists and other mercenaries attack Pine on Continental grounds. Eve assists him and he entrusts Ella to her. Cultist Dex (Robert Maaser) shoots Pine, while Lena incapacitates Eve and takes Ella. The Prague Continental staff spare Eve for not breaking Continental rules but execute two captured Cultists/mercenaries for their attack.

While in Prague Eve goes to purchase a stash of weapons from arms dealer Frank (Abraham Popoola), but the Cult henchmen attack his shop. After Eve kills every last one of the Cult's heavies, Frank helps her narrow down the location of the Cult's base and provides her with a car so that she can drive herself to their location. 

Eve's search leads to the town of Hallstatt in Upper Austria, where she quickly comes under attack as all the townspeople are of the Cult and many are assassins, some of whom the Cult has offered safe haven to. Eve is eventually captured and brought to the Chancellor, who discovers her ties to the Ruska Roma. Eve reveals her revenge plot, while he reveals that Pine is his son and Ella his granddaughter. The Chancellor remembers Eve, informing Lena that she is Eve's older sister, whom Eve believed to be dead. Eve breaks free before being cornered by Lena, who reveals their kinship. Lena tells Eve that Javier abandoned her during his escape due to fearing that the Cult had already indoctrinated Lena. Hearing of Eve and Lena talking, the Chancellor orders their deaths. The Cult's attack kills Lena while Eve escapes.

The Chancellor calls the Director with a declaration of war between their factions due to Eve's relentless actions, despite the Director repeatedly stating that Eve had gone rogue. To satisfy the Chancellor, the Director sends John Wick (Keanu Reeves) to take out Eve as a compromise, which the Chancellor accepts. 

The Chancellor orders a temporary stand-down of the townsfolk once John arrives at Hallstatt, where he finds and defeats Eve, repeatedly sparing her and imploring her to leave Hallstatt. Eve pleads for her revenge, so the sympathetic John gives her the remaining twenty-eight minutes until midnight, when the stand-down orders end, to kill the Chancellor. If she fails to kill the Chancellor by then, he will have no choice but to see out his contract to its foregone conclusion.

Eve continues fighting against the Cult across Hallstatt, with John killing Dex to save Eve. Some Cultists attack John, who in turn kills them. When the Cult loses track of John, the Chancellor attempts to flee with Ella in a SUV, but Eve shoots the driver causing the vehicle to come to an abrupt halt, and corners the Chancellor. The Chancellor exits the car and attempts to reason with Eve, but Eve executes him where he stands, and rescues Ella. John calls the Director who asks if 'she' is dead, but John simply responds by stating that 'he' is dead.

Ella is reunited with an alive and recovering Pine at the New York Continental where Eve takes refuge. Now exiled from the Ruska Roma, Eve watches former Kikimora trainee and friend Tatiana's (Juliet Doherty) Swan Lake ballet performance. The Cult places a US$5M bounty on Eve, and being alerted to this development on her mobile phone, as were several other members of the audience, she quickly exits the theatre.

'Ballerina' has all the trademarks of the four previous 'John Wick' instalments, which I guess is down largely to the involvement of Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves, from the bullet ballet choreography, the intense close quarter fight scenes, the creative kills, and a strong cast who really give it their all. Director Len Wiseman has done a very respectable job of steering this franchise in a relatively new direction whilst maintaining the many touchstones, characters, top notch cinematography, relentless pace and everything we have come to expect from the series so far. Ana de Armas gives a solid performance as the Ballerina in question here, and seems to slip easily enough into the role as the gun totting, arse kicking, flame thrower wielding, ice skate launching, grenade lobbing assassin Eve Macarro, and it's good to see Keanu Reeves reprise his role as John Wick even if only for a couple of scenes in the last fifteen minutes or so. 

'Ballerina' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SILENT NIGHT : Tuesday 12th December 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SILENT NIGHT' earlier this week, and this American action film is Co-Produced and Directed by John Woo whose prior feature film output includes 'A Better Tomorrow' and 'A Better Tomorrow II' in 1986 and '87, 'The Killer' in 1989, 'Bullet in the Head' in 1990, 'Hard Boiled' in 1992, and then his first Hollywood actioner 'Hard Target' in 1993 followed by 'Broken Arrow' in 1996, 'Face/Off' in 1997, 'Mission : Impossible 2' in 2000, 'Paycheck' in 2003 with 'Red Cliff : Part I' and 'Red Cliff : Part II' in 2008 and 2009 amongst a whole swathe of others. This film is John Woo's first American production since 'Paycheck' twenty years ago, and was released in the US on 1st December and here in Australia last week, has so far grossed US$7.5M and has garnered mixed reviews.

The films opens up with a man wearing a Christmas jersey with a jingle bell dangling from his neck running down the alleyways and streets of a city with bloodied hands and blood stains on his clothes. Meanwhile two cars are involved in rampaging gang related shootout, with the running man clearly intent on tracking them down. He does so, but in the aftermath the gang's leader easily identifiable by the tattoo's of an intricate spiders web covering his neck, head and half his face clambers out of the wreckage of one of the vehicles and shoots the running man in the throat, and leaves him bleeding out. 

The man, we learn is Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman), who survives and is operated on and stitched back up in hospital, but his vocal chords are so badly damaged that his is no longer able to speak. We later learn through flashbacks that Brian is an electrician and is living a happy life in the city of Las Palomas, Texas with his wife Saya (Catalina Sandino Moreno) and young son Taylor Michael. On Christmas Eve 2021, Brian and Taylor are using a new bicycle on their front lawn, which Saya is recording on her smartphone. They are caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting in the middle of a gang war and Taylor is killed by a stray bullet, which prompted Brian to chase after the perpetrators. 

Brian is discharged from hospital on 26th January and returns home with Saya to a lifeless house, with now very sad looking Christmas decorations still hanging up, and presents for their son still under the tree. Brian and Saya grieve over Taylor's death and Saya tries to be emotionally supportive to Brian during his physical recovery, but Brian becomes cold and distant and begins drinking heavily and locking himself away in their garage. Easter comes and goes, and at this point Brian has an awakening and becomes focused squarely on pursuing revenge for Taylor.

Saya becomes emotionally overwhelmed and leaves

Brian, who plans to kill all the gang members involved in Taylor's death on Christmas Eve in 2022. Over the course of the next eight months Brian builds up his strength and stamina through rigorous bodybuilding exercises, familiarising himself with deadly weapons and sharp shooting, self-defence training and mastering his defensive driving skills in his souped-up pre-owned Ford Mustang. 

At one point, Brian visits Detective Dennis Vassel (Scott Mescudi), who offered to help in his son's case, but with the Detective unavailable Brian instead uses this opportunity to gather information on Playa's (Harold Torres) gang and begins reconnaissance on them, collecting evidence that will help put them behind bars (if they live to see the day that is!) Saya attempts to contact Brian, expressing that she and his parents are worried about him, but he continues to ignore her text messages. 

Brian attacks and abducts a member of Playa's gang, hurting and threatening him in an attempt to gather written information on the gang's underworld activities. The thug briefly manages to escape from the garage where he was bound, gagged and strung up only for Brian to subdue him in a fight through the laundry and into the kitchen. Brian later delivers the bound and unconscious thug to Vassel's house, along with a Christmas card, containing his intent to kill Playa and his gang, and a USB stick with the evidence he has collected, along with the thug's bloodstained written contributions to his information. He also sends two of the thug's amputated fingers to Playa, intimidating him.

Brian spends the entire night of Christmas Eve 2022 killing the members of Playa's gang one by one, at times interrupting their crimes in the process. After stealing a cell phone from a thug and using it to record a video of him being shot twice in the back and sending it to Playa, the gang leader sends a group text for his men to return to his HQ. Brian takes the opportunity to trap and kill them all there. 

Following much close quarter combat involving guns, knives, fists, feet and the occasional explosive device as Brian inches ever closer to Playa, he is confronted by Detective Vassel, following up on the information sent by Brian earlier in the day. Initially pointing their drawn weapons at each another, they both silently put them down and agree to work together to finish off Playa. 

Playa's drug-addled girlfriend manages to get the drop on them, shooting them both with an automatic weapon. Brian sneaks around and holds her at gunpoint, as she drops her gun and fakes surrender looking all lost and innocent. When Brian hesitates to kill her, she unveils a hidden sidearm and attacks him with it. Brian is able to plug her with a couple of rounds, one through the forehead, and then confronts Playa. In the shootout between them, Playa manages to get the upper hand and is about to shoot Brian in the neck again, but Detective Vassel shoots Playa, allowing Brian to finish him off by strangling him with his bare hands.

Brian and Detective Vassel fall to the floor and look up at the ceiling and the huge Christmas bauble decorations hanging down from above while they both bleed out dying. Brian sees reflections of his memories of his time with Taylor and hallucinates an alternate future, where he and Taylor are both still alive. Brian experiences visions of Taylor graduating from college and giving Brian a grandson who they bond together with. Saya opens a letter that Brian wrote to her before he went on his Christmas Eve rampage, where he apologises for how cold he had become in their marriage and thanks her for loving him. Brian further tells her that he knows no one can make Taylor's death right, but that he is going to die trying. Saya takes the letter to Taylor's grave, where Brian had earlier brought his previously unopened Christmas present from the year before (a toy train set) that he built and set up around his grave. 

'Silent Night' is a gritty, brutal revenge thriller completely devoid of any dialogue so allowing the Director, John Woo, to let the actions and mannerisms speaks louder than any words can. And on that level he largely succeeds, with any communication between all parties done by text messaging. What lets the film down though is the pacing from when Brian returns home at the end of January to sometime in December when we have an hour or so of our protagonist diving inside a bottle, to his epiphany, to his revenge fuelled training regime, to his intel gathering all intertwined with emotion writ large on the face of a dour looking Kinnaman, before the action kicks into gear finally in the final thirty minutes. And it's in the opening ten minutes and that closing half hour that the John Woo who we all know and love from his often stellar work in defining '80's and '90's action cinema, that represents a return to form for the now 77 year old Director. 

'Silent Night' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-