20 Recent Movies Ruined For INSANE Reasons
9. Hiring Len Wiseman - Ballerina
On paper a John Wick spin-off starring Ana de Armas sounded pretty damn great, but many abandoned most hope for it the moment that Len Wiseman was hired to direct.
Wiseman, best known for his work on the Underworld franchise and whose last well-received film was Live Free or Die Hard back in 2007, simply seemed like a deeply uninspired choice for a franchise known for its visually creative, kinetic action sequences.
When there are so many talented, hungry action filmmakers out there, why would you hire the dude whose last good action film was almost a full 20 years ago?
And so, it wasn't hugely surprising that Ballerina ended up undergoing extensive reshoots due to dissatisfaction with what Wiseman turned in, with mainline John Wick filmmaker Chad Stahelski even being brought in to shoot the new material himself.
While Ballerina isn't a terrible film, it is a rather middle-of-the-road, mostly forgettable spin-off that bears the scars of its messy production, given how stapled-together it feels from scene to scene despite some solid action beats.
Clearly, Ballerina needed a director like Timo Tjahjanto or Gareth Evans to bring the necessary brutal intensity to the fore.