The John Wick franchise has done an excellent job creating an intriguing world around its titular character over the years, and fans have often clamored to explore that world further, even without Mr. Wick being involved. As a result, we’re starting to see projects get greenlit that focus on other characters and how they live in the world we’ve only seen in passing so far. One such project, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, gives us a brand-new character and story to follow. After spending two hours with it, one simple fact is undeniable: The World of John Wick really only works with John Wick.

To be clear, I don’t mean that as an insult to Ana de Armas, the star of this installment. She’s a talented actress and it’s clear she’s doing her best here as Eve Macarro, a rookie assassin on the hunt for her family’s killers. It’s just that Eve isn’t a particularly interesting character. The movie spends precious little time developing her personality or her relationships as she moves from one boring location after another, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. It’s much more focused on the action, and the character suffers for it. 

For longtime fans of the series, that might just sound like a John Wick movie. The problem is that when John Wick stoically mows his way through a small army of thugs, armed security, assassins, and a sumo wrestler (no, really), it feels like he’s a force of nature. John wins in the end because he’s John Wick. You can’t stop him. That’s all the personality he really needs. Eve, on the other hand, is a novice in comparison. She’s sloppy and, while she does get the job done, she’s clearly not even remotely on the same level as John. There’s nothing wrong with that, a burgeoning assassin is an interesting character to follow, but she needs to have a more developed and engaging personality to compensate. Eve does not.

Fortunately, the action itself is every bit as good as fans have come to expect from the John Wick movies. There are some amazing fights, including a duel involving two flamethrowers, that are worthy additions the series. De Armas absolutely shines during the stunt work, proving herself to be a very capable action hero. The story and characters may leave a lot to be desired, but there’s no denying how bombastically fun the shootouts and knife-fights are.

As good as the combat is and de Armas is at it, audiences are still likely going to yearn for Keanu Reaves to step back into the leading role (though he does show up briefly to remind us why we care about these movies). There just isn’t much of interest happening when he isn’t involved. With him, these movies perform a delicate dance between worldbuilding, character exploration, and high-octane action. It’s a dance that Ballerina never quite masters.