India, June 13 -- You've got to hand it to the title-Ballerina: From the World of John Wick sounds like a crossover between a tiara-clad Disney fantasy and a headshot-heavy gun-fu opera. And misdirection is the whole point. This isn't pirouettes and plies-it's flamethrowers, samurai swords, and body bags.

Positioned neatly between John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and Chapter 4, Ballerina follows a new assassin with pointe shoes and a vendetta, played by Ana de Armas. It wants to deepen the John mythos with a feminine touch and emotional weight, but ends up oscillating between promising detours and recycled chaos. Stylish, yes. Coherent? Not always.

As a child, Eve Macarro (played in her younger years by Victoria Comte) witnesses her fa...