Here is the trailer for “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina”. Yes, that’s the ridiculous name for a movie. If you listen closely, you can hear the studio executives demanding the name ‘John Wick’ be part of the title. They desperately need to convince themselves that by putting ‘John Wick’ in the title, you’ll be excited to see this movie. And as usual, they are wrong. Call this movie whatever you want but go ahead and add it to the long list of fails.
Add it to the other ‘Killer Girl Movies’ that people didn’t want to see. Red Sparrow, Salt, Atomic Blonde. Take the hint. These movies don’t work. Give it a rest. It’s not that the title doesn’t include John Wick. It’s not that Keanu Reeves isn’t doing a cameo. It’s that on a fundamental level this genre is beyond belief. The idea of a woman killing machine is a step too far for people. Sorry. Yes, I know in all these movies the girl has a big training montage, and she learns to shoot and throw knives and do judo and she’s super gifted and shit, but here’s the reality: Every dude in the theater knows he can kick her ass. KNOWS it. On a very base level every guy isn’t threatened at all. Even in the make-believe world you’ve crafted and wasted money on no one buys it. Sorry.
Now you can have a killer girl as part of an ensemble. Black Widow in the Avengers? Sure. But as her own franchise? Nope. Too much time to think about it. The level of disbelief is too high for too long. Again, I’m just the messenger here. Don’t get mad at me. Blame tens of thousands of years of humanity and a very basic dynamic.
I could go on and on about this, but I’m sure you get it by now. It’s just amusing to me that these movies keep getting made. They keep failing and they keep trying to fix it with titles that insult your intelligence like “From the world of John Wick: Ballerina.” Good luck with that. Here’s the trailer. It hits theaters on June 6th.
I would like to add that occasionally a movie can tell the killer girl story effectively. There are acceptations to every rule. I highly recommend the original ‘La femme Nikita’ by Luc Besson. Great movie and it doesn’t ask you to completely suspend every sense of disbelief. Great flick.
I thought she was doing Indigo Montoya. “You killed my father”.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I’m still laughing about them squeezing John Wick into the title. Ha!