[#28] Ballerina, from the John Wick Universe

A Classic Greek Drama

Ballerina is the John Wick Universe’s latest spin-off and, arguably, its most emotionally intelligent film yet. It’s a revenge drama, just like the OG John Wick film, and is equally, if not more, stylized. For ex: the movie opens with bars from Swan Lake as a tribe of assassins called The Cult break into a fortress to eliminate a former assassin.

Chef’s kiss. No notes.

I’ve been obsessed with assassins since I was a kid. Read far too many books about them, lived vicariously through Villanelle from Killing Eve. But Ballerina is not just assassin mythology, blood and ballet. Structurally, it’s classic Greek drama.

You’ve got:
📌 A flawed hero with a wound (her father’s death).
📌 The forging of said hero through trials. (unlike John Wick, where the hero is already forged)
📌 A cathartic climax.
📌 And, in true Greek fashion, a twist that hits you like a knife to the gut.

Honestly, the only thing missing to make Ballerina a complete Greek drama was the presence of a Chorus. I do wish that there had been a rock band approximation of the Nine Muses singing at the Continental, interjecting the story with different opinions and perspectives. Especially since in the actual Greek plays, the role of the chorus is to reflect on fate, comment on the action, and also provide some sort of a philosophical context - which are also the main themes that Ballerina explores. Possibly it would have deepened the mythic tone that is already integrated within these films. Ah well.

The names too, help build this ancient-myth-meets-graphic-novel tone. There’s John Wick, who is known as the Baba Yaga, of course. But more intriguingly, there’s Charon, the concierge at the Continental Hotel, who is a keeper of the rules in the world of assassins. In Greek mythology, his namesake ferries souls over the river Styx. A liminal space, if there ever was one. In the John Wick films, he appears as saviour, as a dealer of justice, a keeper of rules.

A few observations from Ballerina:
📌 Ballet is as brutal as bullfighting.
📌 If you want to be a great assassin, you must train in ballet. (Black Widow also went through this)
📌 So did John Wick train in ballet?

When I first saw the John Wick movies, my first thought was that there had to be some graphic novel source material lying around. The world building was so specific, the colour palette so sharp, and the villains had such sharp and defined outlines. Fun fact: there are John Wick comics, but they were created as a prequel series after the release and the success of the first film.

In India, the only revenge film I’ve seen that wears its style as smartly is Jigra by Vasan Bala. Different milieu, same dedication to aesthetic form.