TheJohn Wickfranchise was a revolution in the world of action cinema. Not unlikeThe Matrix,Wickrepresented a new combination of elements that reinvigorated the medium. One mid-budget shoot-em-up leaped from obscurity into the forefront of the cultural imagination, launching its star into the limelight and its format into an eternal state of regular reuse.John Wickwent four movies without getting too tired, but his spin-off projects don’t seem to have the same staying power.Ballerinacould step out of the eponymous shadow, but consideringThe Continental, it could very easily get lost inThe World of John Wick.
Blockbuster action franchises have a tendency to overstay their welcome. Director Len Wiseman certainly knows the foibles of pushing an idea beyond the limits of its premise. Hedirected twoUnderworldmovies and produced two more, building an action franchise around his marriage to Kate Beckinsale. In the meantime, he also found time to helmLive Free or Die Hard, the fourth entry in the ailingDie Hardseries. Wiseman has an abysmal track record, which is why it’s so tough to hear that he’s the director in charge ofBallerina.
Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward
Albert Hughes and Charlotte Brändström
Streaming On
Peacock
The Continentalwas thefirst spin-off of theJohn Wickfranchise, but its cultural impact fell so short that even most of the fanbase forgot it ever came out. It’s the most recent piece of on-screenJohn Wickmedia to date, but it seems to have faded immediately.The Continentalis a prequel that takes place in the 70s and follows a young Winston Scott, Ian McShane’s character from the films. McShane’s Winston is the unflappable owner of the titular hotel, a safe space for assassins to spend their golden tokens and enjoy the luxurious lifestyle in peace.The Continentaldepicts the immense amount of work it took Winston to acquire his lofty position, which he loses and regains in the films. It’s an action series that owes a lot of its mechanics to the heist thriller genre, keepingWick’s fondness for frenetic gunplay alive in a more grounded criminal context. It also enjoys a neo-noir setting, allowing the showrunners to play with the setting in a way thatWicksimply cannot. It’s far from a perfect show, falling far short ofall four films in the franchise, but it’s still an enjoyable experience. It lacks the simplicity of its predecessors, but will the same issue plague another spin-off?
DoesJohn Wickneed John Wick?
It seems difficult to put together aJohn Wickfilm without the title character, but the studio keeps shoving his name onto the poster.The ContinentalandBallerinaare fine titles, but someone insists on appendingFrom the World of John Wickin front of the former and after the latter. That addition rings out much like thehilarious third season ofPennyworth, which added the subtitleThe Origin of Batman’s Butler. Anyone with a passing interest in the project would already know what franchise it belonged to, and anyone who needed the subtitle probably wouldn’t engage. It’s a demonstration of the studio’s severe lack of faith in its audience. Lionsgate needed to attachJohn Wickto the spinoff as a promise to even the least informed viewer, but this setup builds disappointment into the project. Irritatingly enough, the world ofJohn Wickis actually extremely fascinating. It’s one of themost compelling elements of the films, but every successful dive into its Byzantine structure and absurd system of rules has John Wick front and center. Surely a movie about the world under the High Table could be excellent, but the fickle viewers simply might not turn up if they feel that the promise of John Wick won’t be kept.
IsBallerinain trouble?
While the film’s director is not promising, there’s no way to judge its quality at this point.Its box-office performance, onthe other hand, seems a little more dire. It’s a rough time for theatrical releases, putting the potential fate ofBallerinain an unfortunate place. NotunlikeFuriosa: A Mad Max Story,Ballerinais a spin-off about a female character that still uses the previous male lead as a selling point in the title.The Continentalmight not be the best predictor of the film’s success or failure, but the prognosis still seems unpleasant.
Ballerinacould be the perfect way to extend theJohn Wickfranchise beyond the lifespan of the character, but it could also be another messy spin-off that doesn’t land. Unfortunately, the first attempt to explore a newchunk of this franchisewas a complete non-starter, and the current state of theatrical cinema could easily let this dancer down. A thousand other action filmmakers have already tried movies that boil down to"John Wickwith a different actor in the suit," so it seems fitting that the franchise would also attempt it.Ballerinacould outgrowThe Continental, but it could just as easily fall as flat as the character’s first appearance inJohn Wick: Chapter 3.
