The ingredients for a great entry in the “John Wick” franchise are pretty simple, and to quote the titular character played by Keanu Reeves: “Guns; lots of guns.” Throw in a couple of chase scenes, hand-to-hand fights with knives, a dance club scene, a stop off at a Continental Hotel, and you’re good to go.

But extending the franchise, that central character can be tricky, because Wick is not only the best in the game in his world, but he’s the emotional core with a backstory that makes all the carnage that follows worth it.

When it comes to “Ballerina,” the spin-off movie with the tagline “From the world of John Wick,” the movie is at its best when it’s also unfortunately at its worst — living in the shadow of the world it was born into. Those familiar characters and

It’s fun to see characters from previous installments, but it also makes it so this story can’t truly stand on its own. And any story beats or sequences that seem reminiscent of ones from the main series just remind me that those ones did it first and often better.

But then it does try some new ideas, and when it does, oh boy, watch out, because this is what seeing an action-packed blockbuster on the big screen is all about.

Set mostly between the events of the third and fourth “John Wick” movies, the story follows the orphaned daughter of two assassins, Eve Macarro (played by Ana de Armas), who trains as a ballerina and a Kikimora assassin/bodyguard under the Director (Anjelica Huston) of the Ruska Roma.

After an assignment, Eve is attacked by an assassin, whom she kills and identifies as a cultist from the group who killed her father. Though the Director forbids Eve from pursuing the cult due to a longstanding truce between the cult and the Ruska Roma, she takes matters into her own hands.

With assistance from the New York Continental’s concierge (Ian McShane), Eve is able to track down where the cult is hiding out, and no one is going to stand in her way of taking revenge on the cult’s leader (Gabriel Byrne). Well, there is one person in her way: John Wick (Reeves).

Following a brand new character means a lot of set up in the first act before the story really gets rolling about 45 minutes in. Sometimes watching everything in chronological order makes sense, but something about watching Eve go through her training and struggles in a long montage doesn’t quite work when the world has so many cool aspects to explore.

Despite those familiarities that seem old hat by this point, it’s the characters who populate the world — both recognizable faces and a few new ones — that make it so much fun. Whether it’s a hotel concierge, an operative with a chip on her shoulder, an armory proprietor or a tavern cook, everyone has a role to play and are lots of fun.

But this really only works if the main character is someone we can root for, and although de Armas seems like an odd choice, it’s that unexpected casting that helps sell her arc. In an early training scene, one of the instructors tells her that people are going to underestimate her because of her size and that she should use that to her advantage.

Over the ensuing 90 minutes, she does just that, finally stepping out from Wick’s ever-present shadow and making her own way with impressive, unique and memorable action scenes — hand grenades and flamethrowers that this franchise had not yet explored.

Beyond the action, there’s something about the story that could have been great. Eve is told that one bullet can change the world, but the system she lives in exists to stop that change. The people who raised her are tied to and protect the people who destroyed her life. Her choices are violent change or violent stasis, and if she tries to fight against the “bad guys,” she’ll be targeted by the things meant to protect her.

It may be off to a modest start at the box office — it’s performing slower than all previous “Wick” films except the original from 2014 — but there is room for improvement. With a solid critical reception and the fifth mainline “John Wick” film in the works, this likely won’t be the last time we see de Armas as Eve in this world.