In contrast, “Ballerina”—like the four John Wick films that it’s spun off from—is, strangely, far better at story than at action. The first John Wick film is the weakest, because the framework for the franchise was still unformed: a retired hit man (Keanu Reeves) gets back into action to respond to a mobster’s attacks.

The new installment may be silly, but its cathartic, cartoonish brutality and larger-than-life faces are reason enough to go to the movies.

Ana de Armas plays a dancer-turned-assassin in Len Wiseman’s violent franchise spinoff.