Review: The John Wick franchise is alive and kicking with Ballerina

Ana de Armas shone in the original Knives Out (2019) and as one of the best Bond girls in recent memory in No Time to Die (2021). She proves herself a fierce and lethal adversary against a cultish syndicate in the new film Ballerina—excuse me, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. (Why, Lionsgate? Just... why?) I love them all, but this is probably my favorite John Wick film since the original in 2014 (which may never be surpassed).

(Mostly mild spoilers, and a couple of significant reveals below the gallery. We'll give you a heads-up when we get there.)

Chronologically, Ballerina takes place during the events of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. As previously reported, Parabellum found Wick declared excommunicado from the High Table for killing crime lord Santino D'Antonio on the grounds of the Continental. On the run with a bounty on his head, he ...