John Wick stopping by a ballet studio was not on my bingo cards, but here we are. Ballerina fused the stylized world of the Wick franchise with the classic revenge melodrama, complete with two hours of bullet casings, flamethrowers, and pirouettes. Much like most spin-offs, it’s not perfect, but that’s OK. Ana de Armas and director Len Wiseman deliver just enough bruising and elegance in Ballerina to justify adding this to the John Wick universe.
The film wastes no time establishing its stakes. Young Eve Macarro, played by Victoria Comte, watches her assassin father, Javier, be killed, then gets taken away by Winston Scott to the Ruska Roma organization. Twelve years later, Eve, now de Armas, is a deadly Kikimora, which is a pretty word for a bodyguard and assassin rolled into one.
We get a montage of those twelve years, cycling through training, vodka shots, and the occasional contract kill. The montage compresses what feels like an entire life into three music cues.
While on an assignment in Prague that went sideways, Eve recognizes a symbol on a dead attacker’s wrist. This is the very symbol she saw the night her dad died. Not wanting to break the old truces or upset the delicate politics of the underworld, the Director, Anjelica Huston, tells her to drop it. Eve, predictably, goes rogue. From there the movie becomes a tour of Europe with flashy Continental lobbies, neon alleys, and finally the snow-swept Austrian town of Hallstatt, whose postcard streets turn out to be a cultist ant farm. Hallstatt is a dark mirror to the Continental network. The idea that an entire tourist village is secretly an assassin’s den feels outlandish, yet it expands the franchise’s central joke, where in this universe, every barista, bellhop, and homeless guy might be packing coins and a Glock.
On paper, the plot is revenge 101, yet the emotion that drives Eve works thanks to de Armas. She sells Eve as a lethal prodigy who’s still, deep down, the kid who lost her parents to a life she never asked for. De Armas has been in action movies before in No Time to Die, but this is her first time being the main focus, and she owns it. She’s as convincing pirouetting as she is reloading a shotgun.
The supporting cast orbits her nicely; Gabriel Byrne leans into the Chancellor with a cold menace, adding a faint father-in-law energy that mirrors Eve’s own grief. Norman Reedus’s Daniel Pine basically feels like Daryl Dixon having a fever dream about wearing expensive suits. Still, somehow it works. His gravelly warmth sells the moral catch22 of a killer trying to protect his kid. Catalina Sandino Moreno gets less screentime than the trailers suggest, yet her tough, tragic, indoctrinated character lands a punch to the throat that pays off in a heartbreaking sister vs. sister standoff. Huston, as the Director is intimidating but strangely passive. There is a mother and daughter frustration between her and Eve, yet the film never lets them hash it out. If a sequel happens, giving those two a real showdown would land bigger than any flamethrower fight scene.
And yes, Keanu Reeves shows up. He’s used sparingly and has a crutch to Eve in the final act, and the script wisely flips his usual role. This time Wick is the unstoppable force telling someone else to walk away before they lose everything. Their snowy alley duel feels like an uncle giving a lethal pep talk, and the respect between the two characters is clear even when they’re trading punches. Yet seeing John Wick playing a supporting role made Ballerina feel like a side quest for the Baba Yaga.
No one buys a ticket to Ballerina for philosophical meditations, knowing full well it’s in the Wick universe, and Wiseman understood the assignment. The early fights are serviceable, if a bit choppy with tight hallways and quick cuts. Then the second half drops the training wheels, and the camera pulls back. A restaurant brawl staged amid windows of blowing snow is gorgeous and brutal, the sort of set piece where you can practically feel the temperature drop each time a body slams through glass.
The Hallstatt siege is the money section, though. Imagine Assassin’s Creed by way of The Sound of Music. Every villager is packing heat, church bells mask sniper shots, and Eve sprints across frozen rooftops in mid heel boots. It’s ridiculous, but the geography stays clear, the stunts have weight, and the flamethrower fight teased in the trailers pays off with a stunt team apparently determined to set a Guinness record for the most people to ever be set on fire in a movie.
The world‑building is on point. Ballerina expands the Wick universe on a smaller canvas but still adds flavor, laying another brick to the assassin mythos. Nonetheless, being a spin‑off, Ballerina can’t fully escape its parent franchise’s shadow. You feel the pull of that main story, especially when the screenplay tries to shoehorn in John Wick’s cameo. In any case, it’s good to see the Baba Yaga working again.
The dialogue is functional rather than memorable; it moves the story along with no added depth. A few exchanges sound like they fell out of a screenwriting handbook. I mean, to be honest, the Wick series isn’t known for its winning dialogue anyway. Functional dialogue is expected in an action film; it’s an inherent part of the genre. But this simple functionality does occasionally undercut the operatic mood the cinematography works so hard to create in Ballerina.
Ballerina lands somewhere between John Wick: Chapter 2’s tight escalation and Parabellum’s maximum lunacy. It’s leaner, a touch sappier, and more willing to pause for some of that feeling that’s missing from most action films. Some may call it “diet Wick,” but honestly it’s just as sweet and sugary as the original.
Ana de Armas proves she can headline an action. Yes, the script sprinkles plot conveniences like powdered sugar, and Wick’s presence borders on story duct tape. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the Wick universe, you’ll have a blast watching its newest protégé paint the Alps red. If you’re merely in the mood for slick, R‑rated escapism anchored by a committed lead performance, Ballerina will do it for you.
Screen Rated 