There’s an old saying that women prefer poison, but Eve Macarro, the lethal heroine of Ballerina, either missed the memo or found it too dull for her penchants. Ana de Armas, in the latest John Wick universe installment, instead maims and massacres her adversaries with knives, hammers, grenades, a grenade pin, figure skates, a flamethrower, and, of course, guns — lots of guns.

Set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, Ballerina is a lean revenge thriller that wastes little time on ambiguity. From the onset, we’re treated to a brief prelude in which we learn that Macarro’s parents, members of a shadowy assassin cabal, attempted to escape their violent order and were murdered for their insubordination. Orphaned and seeking answers, Macarro eventually joins the Ruska Roma and their school of ballet, something like a Juilliard for Slavic assassins.

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Why a criminal syndicate of Eastern European hitmen needs to master pirouettes and pliés is never exactly explained, but the backdrop of a ballet theater and an austere, demanding ballet director (Anjelica Huston) heading a lethal training center proves a compelling aesthetic.

At the New York Continental, Winston (Ian McShane) and Charon (the late Lance Reddick) return to guide Macarro through the franchise’s familiar rituals of baroque hospitality. From there, she is delivered into the Roma’s punishing training regimen, where she gradually evolves into a capable killer. In one standout scene, Macarro is repeatedly pummeled by a male opponent twice her size — until the ballet director advises her to “fight like a girl,” which Macarro gleefully interprets as a series of acrobatic crotch kicks.

Despite her petite frame, de Armas appears convincingly fit for the role. The actress’s grueling preparation pays off, as the fight scenes are choreographed with the sort of precision and timing one might expect from a ballet troupe executing Swan Lake’s “Dance of the Little Swans.” Her prowess with firearms is no slouch either, as she deftly reloads, aims, and maneuvers through corridors with credible form.

Not a stranger to sleuthing, de Armas was easily the best part of the last Bond film, No Time to Die (2021). Straying from the Bond girl trope to portray a CIA agent, she exuded an alluring countenance that was simultaneously seductive and playful — qualities that make her a natural fit for Eve Macarro.

Of course, no one watches a John Wick film, canonical or adjacent, for the plot. They come for the operatic kills. And Ballerina delivers them in grotesque, surgical detail. In one scene, Macarro shoves a grenade into an adversary’s mouth, duct-tapes it shut, then hurls him behind a table where his head explodes like a balloon. Later, she uses the same grenade pin to sever another’s jugular and femoral arteries. Suffice it to say, if you enjoyed the John Wick movies, there’s plenty to like here. Ballerina exists within the same universe but has more than enough merit to stand on its own.

Does crouching behind a table within earshot of exploding grenades really leave your hearing intact? Can a flamethrower be countered with a firehose? Probably not, but these set pieces are executed with such momentum and payoff that it’s difficult to fault or nitpick.

The film makes a point to remind us that we’re still firmly in John Wick’s turf. In the third act, when Macarro is holed up in a snowy Austrian mountain town run by the assassin clan that murdered her father, Wick is called in for a favor. He enters like Charles Bronson with a harmonica in Once Upon a Time in the West — unflinching and exuding a haunting presence experienced equally by the characters on screen and the audience in the theater. There is no doubt who the star is when Wick and Macarro briefly spar. Wick is glaringly stronger, smarter, faster, and generally operating on another level.

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It’s an odd choice to undermine and upstage the protagonist in such patent fashion when she was more than capable of carrying the narrative on her own. However, it does reinforce that this is firmly John Wick’s universe. Still, the two share compelling chemistry when they, predictably, end up working together.

Is Ballerina just a slick cash grab capitalizing on John Wick’s legacy? Probably. But when a cash grab nails its fouettés with this much style and graceful fun, who are we to complain? Take my money.

Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a software engineer, holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com.