Keanu Reeves’ iconic hitman might still be at the top of the franchise food chain, but for at least one “John Wick” spinoff, Ana de Armas owns that super-cool underworld.
De Armas smacks, smashes and crashes through a gauntlet of gunfights and brawls in the chilly revenge mission “Ballerina” (★★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters June 6), director Len Wiseman’s vital side adventure for the popular action-movie series. If you thought watching Tom Cruise hang off a biplane for 20 minutes was a blast, just wait until de Armas picks up a flamethrower.
Wick, the legendary “Baba Yaga” of this killer mythology, is here, too, but Reeves takes a back seat for the most part as Eve Macarro (de Armas) earns the spotlight. Orphaned as a child when her father was murdered in front of her, Eve grows up as both dancer and assassin in the Ruska Roma crime family, the organization run by the no-nonsense Director (Anjelica Huston) who also trained Wick.
Taught to “fight like a girl” – able to adapt to any situation, cheat if necessary and kick a bunch of dudes in the groin – Eve proves herself worthy of going on assignments. But one night after taking out a club full of bad guys, she notices one's wrist is branded with the same symbol as the henchmen who killed her dad. Eve learns it’s a cult that kills for sport, with the child-stealing Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) at its heartless center. Going rogue against the Director’s wishes, Eve turns her quest for vengeance into a rescue when a little girl is kidnapped, and globe trots from a neon New York nightclub to a snowy Austrian village full of murderous locals.
