Tag Archives: Shay Hatten

Fun With Hand Grenades

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

by Hope Madden

Who are the greatest female action heroes? Ellen Ripley, obviously. Beatrix Kiddo makes a good case for herself. Viola Davis cut one badass figure in G20 last year. Let’s not forget Atomic Blonde.

Ana de Armas is the latest to throw her hat in the ring — her tutu on the stage? — as Eve, orphan turned assassin in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.

Why is she a ballerina? No idea. Zero actual narrative reason for it. But how much of Ballerina are we going to hold to that high a standard of logic?

Ironically, director Len Wiseman’s action choreography is less balletic than what we’ve come to expect from the franchise. It certainly lacks the elegant choreography that delivered the bloodshed in John Wick 4. But what Ballerina lacks in grace it makes up for with brute force. Most of the action sequences (most—not all) are on a smaller but more brutal scale than the norm for the series. This has much to do with Eve’s fondness for hand grenades.

The result is a colorful, messy but impressive bit of action.

The spectacle is still there, as is the fun mythology where essentially every third person on the planet is secretly a highly trained assassin bound to rules and consequences set by the High Table.

Ballerina remains true to that mythology. Keanu Reeves makes an appearance, as do Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, and the much missed Lance Reddick. We visit the Continental, and the film even expands the legend to include a snow globe like little town of killers.

The spinoff film fits into that legacy, of course, because it’s the spawn of the same writing team. Derek Kolstad, who penned even the 2014 original, and Shay Hatten, who joined the project for its 2019 third installment, stay within the confines they set for the universe, just changing perspective by delivering a different killer’s POV.

So, they’re true to the idea, if not the timeline. Funny how we’re willing to suspend disbelief when giant flamethrowers are involved, but some fuzzy math with dates on the calendar is troubling.

The plot is irrelevant, which is lucky because it’s pretty trite and overused. Vengeance over a puppy? That was new. You killed my father, prepare to die? I feel like I’ve heard that one. So, the colorful shell feels pretty empty, but sometimes pretty colors are enough.

Viva Laz Vegaz

Army of the Dead

by Hope Madden

The single best feature film Zack Snyder ever made was his first: 2004’s Romero reboot Dawn of the Dead. (That is my hill.) For that reason (plus my sheer, giddy joy for zombie movies), I was far more eager about his latest zombie installment, Army of the Dead, than in anything else he’s made recently.

Even the title suggested that he was still on the Romero wavelength and, indeed, by his own 2005 Land of the Dead, the maestro of the undead was already dropping us into a town where the Z population had begun to organize.

In Snyder’s case, it’s not just any town. We open on the catalyst—a rapid-fire transformation just over the hill from Vegas. Conjuring fond memories of his prior undead flick, Snyder cuts together an excellent opening montage with some inspired musical accompaniment to quickly bring us up to the film’s current plight. (Likely also offering a preview to their upcoming Netflix series.)

Not a moment or line of dialogue wasted. Which is great, because this is going to trudge on for another 2 ½ hours, which is entirely unforgivable for a zombie movie.

How about a zombie heist movie?!

I mean, the zombies aren’t stealing anything, and nobody’s stealing zombies. Instead, some smarmy billionaire (Hiroyuki Sanada) convinces a Z-war hero (Dave Bautista) to get a crew together and head into Vegas to steal a fortune inside his casino vault.

So, Train to Busan: Peninsula. That’s not where Snyder and co-writers Shay Hatten (John Wick 3) and Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) got all their ideas, though. You will also notice Aliens, The Girl with All the Gifts, I Am Legend, Ghosts of Mars, World War Z, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and just a touch of Danny Ocean.

Still, Army of the Dead would be pretty entertaining if it weren’t so tediously predictable. (That does happen when you borrow so liberally, I guess.) Tig Notaro’s a fun piece of miscasting as the wise-cracking chopper pilot, Matthias Schweighofer delivers a bright performance (though it does feel as if it is part of another film entirely), and it’s always a delight to watch Garret Dillahunt weasel his way through a role.

The whole mess could have been mindless and merry were it not for its bloated running time. (Self-indulgence, thy name is Snyder.) It still delivers the goods here and there, but it won’t stick with you.