As the John Wick films have grown with each chapter, it makes sense to expand the franchise into spin-offs, including The Continental miniseries and now Ballerina, a (mostly) standalone feature focused on Ruska Roma assassin Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) following in Wick’s footsteps on her quest for vengeance. With the ending to John Wick: Chapter 4 seemingly closing the book on the main series, can Ballerina prove that there’s more to this franchise than Keanu Reeves‘ ass-kicking assassin?

The first act of Ballerina sets itself up as an origin story, with an extended prologue setting up Eve’s arc before she is trained by the Ruska Roma, led Anjelica Huston‘s the Director and Sharon Duncan-Brewster‘s Nogi. It’s while training there that she encounters John Wick (Keanu Reeves) during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, who serves as an interesting mirror in Eve’s quest for vengeance. It’s a clever way of tying Ballerina to the main Wick series without feeling contrived, and links to this film’s key theme of choice. After encountering an assassin linked to her past, Eve goes rogue to discover the truth about the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) and his elusive cult, who killer her father when she was child.

Following on from her scene-stealing role in No Time to Die, Ana de Armas steps into a more stoic kind of action star role in Ballerina, throwing herself into every set-piece with a commendable amount of enthusiasm and determination. Eve Macarro’s fighting style is nicely differentiated from John Wick’s, often choosing to outwit her adversaries, as well as using an array of different weapons, from ice picks to plates. It’s surprising how much of the first act is dedicated to Eve becoming an assassin (the John Wick films have mostly left characters’ backstories mysterious, and worked better for it), but a stretch in the middle of the film boasts some spectacular action set-pieces. To go into much detail would spoil the fun, yet this midsection is worth the price of admission alone, and certainly on par with the mainline John Wick films. The rest of the action is pretty good if noticeably less dynamic, even with the flamethrower sequence in the third act which lights up the screen in more ways than one.

Gabriel Byrne makes for a decent villain, and while it’s nice to see the Wick-verse expand to villains outside of the High Table, the Chancellor and his cult are set up to be more interesting antagonists than they end up being in by the end of the film, mostly serving as generic antagonists or cannon fodder. A story beat with Catalina Sandino Moreno‘s Lena sets up some interesting drama for the third act to explore, but it ends up feeling underdeveloped, while the ending leaves a number of questions either unanswered or confusingly ambiguous. There are clearly hopes for a Ballerina sequel, should this film prove successful.

When Ballerina finds its feet, it’s an action-packed extravaganza. The opening act may fall into standard origin story territory, the villains feel a little lacklustre and it seems as though a number of plot threads have been left dangling for a sequel, but there’s a lot to love here. It’s always nice to see Ian McShane and the late, great Lance Reddick reprise their roles as franchise mainstays Winston and Charon, Keanu Reeves‘ cameo is a welcome addition and series composers Tyler Bates and Joel J. Richard bring some consistency to the soundscape. It may dance a fine line between generic action movie and stylish neo-noir thriller, but for the most part Ballerina lands on its feet. Perhaps a sequel could expand on its potential further.

Ballerina is in UK and Irish cinemas now