Ballerina's Villains Are Unlike Anything Seen In The John Wick Universe

Warning! Spoilers for "Ballerina" follow .

The villains of the "John Wick" films are largely incidental. They can be effective challenges for Mr. Wick (Keanu Reeves), but no one goes to these movies for the bad guys. We go to see John blow them away. Does the new spin-off "Ballerina" change that?

The primary villain of "Ballerina" is a man called the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne, always a welcome sight in any movie). True to his title, the Chancellor leads a community of assassins based in the Austrian mountains. Eve's (Ana de Armas) late mother was a member of the Chancellor's community but tried to leave with her husband, Javier (David Castañeda). The Chancellor came to retrieve Eve and murdered Javier, but Eve escaped to be raised by the Ruska Roma mafia.

Our Ballerina now wants re