The origin story of Ballerina focuses on the early life of Eve Macarro (Ana De Armas), something that is paced with a searing emotional core. For starters, she is the daughter of two assailants of rival groups who flee, only for Eve’s mother to be assassinated. On a side note, Eve’s parents’ love story is deftly coded with a West Side Story vibe, that is typically a standalone Shakespearean tragedy waiting to unfold. Hence, it doesn’t take the drama time to zip past a few events in its opening act – Eve’s father’s combat against the members of the cult, Eve’s first kill as a child, Eve eventually losing a father, only to find herself at the cusp of joining the Ruska Roma, you do get a gist about her spent childhood. Here, I must add that the action set-piece at the start did feel slightly generic with the manner in which it was edited, something that did make me a little worried too. But boy, did things turn around after a point (and how).

The dual life of Eve is evident given her contrasting styles of training offered to her by the Director (Anjelica Huston) and Nogi (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). She is trained in ballerina as well as an assassin, both drastically different but rigorous set of training that act as parallel montages in the drama with a choice (while both make her ‘bleed’). This, while the fire of revenge makes her not only opt for donning the role of an assassin but also tracking down the head of the Cult, who is responsible for her father’s death. This, despite a truce formed between the two mercenary groups. And therein begins, a series of action set-pieces that take the story ahead. So, if you are in for the story, you definitely do not belong here! For the sheer predictability of the drama is overhauled by stellar action pieces that is a wet dream (pun intended) for action junkies!

The contrasting settings of the action set-pieces wonderfully compliment the kills here. Right from a cookware to a hammer, to an ice-breaker tool, and from a machine-gun to bombs, and then a fire-gun, every tool in the book is used against a range of settings from a disco-lounge, to a hotel premise, and from raw action on the streets, to the snow-clad mountains that are laced with blood, and gun-powder. There is a definite rhythm to the set-pieces that slowly gathers the momentum featuring the protagonist who fires and slices at the same speed as meeting vital people along the way for her prized posssession. If this was T20 cricket, you would see the bowlers being smashed all around the park. But because this is an actioner, you witness severed hands, bloodied bodies laden with metals, and the splattering of blood from the explosions or sudden but precise gunshots, to name a few.

Now, because this is a John-Wick coded universe, you do have fleeting appearances of John Wick (Keanu Reeves) too. In between, you are also witness to the nemesis of the protagonist The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), while implying his modus operandi of running his cult, something that also doubles upon a startling revelation that in the context of things was half-baked and didn’t really add up. You can see the inconsistencies in the writing department, that don’t really wish to pause and account for the emotional core of the character, particularly after the onslaught has begun! But who is even complaining when the high-octane action completely hits the sweet spot after a point.

The snow-clad setting in the third act almost reminded me of the razor-focused approach that the Hindi film Kill (2024) had, even as the protagonists (in both films) had to go from point A to point B in their bid for a rescue/revenge mission. But unlike Kill, the sub-genre of action often breaks the grammer (in a controlled manner), with some outlandish sequences. For instance in a scene, you witness the protagonist using a water hose pipe to counter a fire-laden gun held by a character. In a scene prior to this, bodies are set ablaze in a rip-roaring sequence involving the fire-gun. This remained a classic case of anti-writing that deliberately deviated from the raw action genre by infusing outlandish elements for entertainment! The R-rated action is enough to paper over the cracks in the writing department, that accurately sums up the screenplay here – you come for the action, and you stay for the action! On a side note, I wish for Bollywood to put their might behind such female-led action entertainers that actually focus on the R-Rated action, while completely discarding the green-screen! Is anyone listening?