For the past 10 years, the original John Wick has spawned three sequels. After four adventures of its title character, the next logical step for any franchise worth its salt is a spinoff. So that’s what we get with From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, or, for short, just Ballerina.
Ballerina is about a young woman named Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas from Knives Out) whose father is killed by a band of marauding murderers. She is sent to live with her father’s “family,” which happens to be the Ruska Roma organization that also produced famed assassin John Wick. There, Eve is trained as both a ballerina and as an assassin. When, on an unrelated mission, she unexpectedly encounters an agent from the group that killed her father, Eve goes rogue to get her revenge.
Ballerina was written by Shay Hatten, who also wrote John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4, which makes sense, since the story takes place in the time between those two movies. Instead of being directed by stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski like all of the other John Wick movies, Ballerina was helmed by action movie stalwart Len Wiseman, who also did movies for both the Underworld and Die Hard franchises. At least, Wiseman is solely credited as director. It is rumored that Stahelski, who served as a producer, was heavily involved with the film’s reshoots. Which makes sense, given that the film’s biggest draw is its stunts.
See, Ballerina isn’t quite as complex of a movie as the other John Wick films. It’s pretty much a straight-up, paint-by-numbers revenge flick. It clearly takes place in the same universe as John Wick and even shares some of the same characters (yes, Keanu Reeves appears as John Wick, as does the late Lance Reddick as Charon in his last screen role). But Ballerina doesn’t feel like it takes full advantage of the complete John Wick mythology. Aside from Eve being a Ruska Roma, the same world-building just isn’t there.
Make no mistake—Ballerina is a John Wick movie, with all of the impressive stunt work and meticulous fight choreography that goes with it. Eve fights her way through seemingly anyone and everyone on her quest for revenge, and the combat uses everything from bare knuckles to sniper rifles. There’s even an incredible flamethrower fight. The action and fight scenes seem to be where the union between Wiseman and Stahelski is most solid.
Unfortunately, Ballerina doesn’t quite have the same multi-layered narrative and hairpin twists as the rest of the John Wick saga. It’s a formula revenge movie. It follows that formula well, but it still uses it, nonetheless. There are very few surprises, and the ones that are there are telegraphed way in advance, so they aren’t very…well, surprising. It does have much of the same sly humor, which is probably due to Hatten’s sense of the characters and world, and that humor is the most fun part of the movie (aside from the aforementioned flamethrower fight, which is pretty awesome). The story itself is fairly one-note.
And speaking of one-note – Ana de Armas isn’t quite the action star that Gal Gadot or Charlize Theron is (you remember Atomic Blonde, right?). That’s a better John Wick movie than Ballerina). She shows bits of emotion in some places, but most of the time, she’s a block of wood with an accent. Which is surprising, because she’s a talented actress. That talent just doesn’t seem to cross over into the high-action world of John Wick. In trying to emulate the cold calculation of Keanu Reeves’ earlier performances in the franchise, she seems to lose the humanity of her character, which is what should get the audience behind her on her search for vengeance. Instead, it’s like watching a robot mindlessly plow through bodies.
Action movie fans should have some fun with Ballerina. John Wick fans may have some trouble buying into it, mainly because it feels like Wick-lite. And general movie fans will most likely find it brainless and silly. Which is kind of the point, but that point shouldn’t be quite so obvious. There’s a thin line between fun and ludicrous, and Ballerina crosses it. But not intentionally.
Or maybe it’s just that the John Wick universe can’t support a movie that doesn’t have John Wick as the focus.
GRADE: C+
Rating: R for language and strong violence throughout
Release Date: June 6, 2025
Running Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Studio: Lionsgate
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