I watched it at the cinema on Sunday. : I must say, most importantly, I did not miss. : Very good action movie. :)🤝
Armasovskaya Eva Makarro is not an atomic blonde, but a nuclear brunette: according to the laws of the genre, she is, of course, indestructible, but still able to arouse audience interest - if only because she has to rely more on ingenuity than on brute force.
A failure, as many thought, the film was not — on the contrary, it honestly performs its entertainment function, without pretending to be something important. The fights are still impressive, the "cranberry" in place, the visual range is still as stylish. What else do you need from an action movie? . .
In general, we have a good action movie, sustained in the tradition of John Wick, if not standing level with him, then certainly not sinking into the abyss of oblivion. "Ballerina" is extremely dynamic, rich in stylish action spin-off for those who missed the criminal showdowns of killer clans. Anyone who loves well-made and expensive Hollywood action movies should not miss it.
Screenwriter Shay Hatten conceived The Ballerina after being impressed with the trailer for John Wick 2. At first, he wrote it as a standalone tape, but then sold the lyrics to Lionsgate studios - and she really decided to mount the plot in the John Wick universe. The case, however, progressed slowly, and the talent did not want to let go, so Hatten was invited to work on the script of John Wick 3 (he became his debut) to screw the ballet school for assassins already there. During the time that "Ballerina" got to the screens, Hatten's filmography managed to grow significantly: in the breaks between "Wicks" (to the fourth he was also connected), he wrote for Zack Snyder "The Army of the Dead", its spin-off "Army of Thieves" and the Rebel Moon dilogy, and is now busy preparing the next rebut "Resident Evil" together with the director of "Barbarian" Zach Kregger.
Hatten believes that the way to the franchise was paved by the tone in which “Ballerina” was written – and which to some extent inherited the last parts of “John Wick”. Perhaps, due to her (tonality), the change of commander is not felt with particular acuteness: the director of “Ballerina” is not the director of all four “Wicks” Chad Stahelski, but Len Wiseman, who co-wrote him in the project (who 20 years ago already shot one gloomy movie about the Amazon in a stylish cloak – action horror “Another World”). I can only guess here. Firstly, the script passed through many hands: the main role performer Ana de Armas was not too pleased with the purely male authorship, so the text managed to join, for example, Emirald Fennel (“Girl, promising”, “Saltburn”). Second, finishing work on the picture, apparently still Stahelski. Although the information on this matter is rather contradictory: Wiseman himself said that the tape was not remade, but was completed (they say that the authors were allocated more money, so they returned scenes deleted from the script for financial reasons to the film), but why this happened without his participation, he did not specify.
Ultimately, it’s not that important – even if Ballerina was saved, it was quite possible to save her. The tape is not in a hurry to stand up in full growth (and manages to tire a little with the prologue), but when it does happen, it quite clearly reminds us of what we fell in love with the original franchise, where there is nothing superfluous - no sense, no boredom, only pure action craftsmanship in the traditions of Buster Keaton, which is breathtaking. The absence of the cameraman Dan Laustsen, who shot the last three “Wicks”, of course, is felt, but Romaine Lacourbas (The Witcher, Zero Zero) who replaced him was clearly not picked up on the street: “Ballerina” a couple of times flaunts divine beauty with shots. And to direct Wiseman, if there may be questions, it is clearly not in the field of building a fascinating atmosphere (see, again, “Another World”).
