Ballerina Footage Description: Ana De Armas Kills Dudes With Ice Skates And Homemade Flamethrowers

Ten years ago, the original "John Wick" gave a shot in the arm (not to mention several shots in other vulnerable places) to the mainstream action genre, taking the gritty, for-love-of-the-stunts spirit of DTV and VOD offerings and mashing that up with the star power of Keanu Reeves and the legacy of the 87eleven stunt team. Filmmakers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch brought their decades of experience as stuntmen and stunt coordinators to the movie, lending it a vibrant authenticity, while screenwriter Derek Kolstad's script took a grounded, very human character and plunged him into a world that increasingly gets stranger and more dangerous. "John Wick" is, in other words, a milestone movie, a game changer that set its own standard, and the three sequels that followed managed to keep that special quality of the first film alive and well.

Even though Mr. Wick, played by Reeves, seemingly met his demise at the conclusion of "John Wick: Chapter 4," the franchise that bears his name doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Of course, barring a miraculous resurrection or a radical new concept, John will not be returning to battle more baddies at this point. So, where is this franchise going to go? At a theater in Los Angeles last night, I joined other "Wick" fans in getting a glimpse of the answer to that question, when we got to see a sneak peek of the upcoming spin-off movie, "Ballerina" which included some never-before-seen footage. 

The film is being promoted as "From the World of John Wick: Ballerina," which implies that Lionsgate is hopeful that the movie is the beginning of a fully fledged Wickverse (to date, the only spin-off of the films is the ill-received limited series "The Continental," and it's not yet clear if that's going to remain in the franchise's canon). Directed by Len Wiseman and starring Ana de Armas (with an appearance by Reeves), "Ballerina" is teed up to be the make-or-break film regarding the larger "Wick" world, and from what I've seen so far — especially de Armas cooking dudes with ice skates and flamethrowers — it appears to have a real shot at expanding "John Wick" beyond the franchise's title character.

The main element that made "The Continential" a letdown was in how it couldn't seem to capture the special vibe that the "John Wick" films have. Yes, it contained a lot of the elements on paper — a revenge theme, hard-hitting action and stunts, wild surprises hidden beneath mundane settings, and so on — but they didn't come together satisfactorily. This isn't a huge surprise, however, given the fact that the "Wick" films have all come from one director in Stahelski, who by this point is well-versed in juggling the various elements of the "John Wick" world. So, not only is Stahelski's involvement on "Ballerina" a good sign, but the director of the film, Len Wiseman, is responsible for juggling similar tonal and stylistic elements within an action franchise of his own: the "Underworld" series.

As Wiseman pointed out in the behind-the-scenes interviews of the sneak peek we saw on Sunday evening, "Ballerina" is a clever reversal of the structure of "John Wick": Where the "Wick" films see John attempting to get out of the assassin organization known as the High Table, "Ballerina" sees Eve (de Armas) trying to get in, apparently due to something that happened with or to her father. Thus, she too is on a mission of revenge, which the "Wick" mythos is all about at its core. Judging by this footage, it's this intensity that de Armas appears to have while playing Eve, which expands on moments that can already be glimpsed in the film's official trailer. Where John Wick is mostly about brutal efficiency in his kills, Eve appears to be motivated by rage, shoving the blade of an ice skate into a dude's face or screaming as she uses a fire hose to ward off a bad guy's huge flamethrower.

Speaking of that flamethrower, it appears the weapon may be part of the film's centerpiece action sequence, given how much time was devoted to it during the sneak peek's brief three-minute runtime. De Armas mentioned at one point that she thinks she "burned 106 people" during a scene, which indicates that Eve must get hold of that flamethrower either before or after her opponent has it as seen in the trailer. There was also a bit more footage of Eve kicking butt at a nightclub, something which the "John Wick" films always manage to include (maybe Wick's fateful meeting with Eve, a fellow member of the Ruska Roma assassin family, includes him giving her advice as to how to shoot bad guys while on beat?).

Although the sneak peek was rather light on the "peek" portion of things, it did whet my appetite for "Ballerina" more than it already had been. Anyone who's seen de Armas in "No Time to Die" knows she has a physical agility that makes her a natural with action, and between Wiseman and Stahelski, the stunts and aesthetic of the film look exceedingly up to par. Only time will tell whether "Ballerina" kicks off a Wickverse primarily without John Wick himself, but I have a feeling that the film will prove what we already know about John Wick the man: Underestimate him, and this franchise, at your peril.

"Ballerina" blasts into theaters on June 6, 2025.