‘Ballerina’ review: Dir. Len Wiseman (2025)

Eleven years ago, in 2014, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch gave the movie world John Wick. The film took the world by storm, reignited the career of Keanu Reeves, and spawned a quadrilogy. Now, after having already attempted a spin-off TV show – The Continental (which tanked spectacularly) – comes a spin-off movie, Ballerina.

During the events of John Wick: Parabellum, John visited Anjelica Huston’s Director for help. As the two conversed within the walls of a theatre, a dancer rehearsed ballet on stage. Then as John walked through the bowels of the building, clusters of dancers were seen training, the reveal being that the dance troupe were a front for a strand of John Wick type assassins. As with many other elements in the John Wick films, these moments added layers of richness to the world, and mythos of the story. Given the dancers’ proclivity for fighting, when it came to choosing another way to spin-off from John’s story, focusing on this school was an easy choice. The result however, is less than optimal. 

Ballerina is the first film in the franchise to not be directed by Chad Stahelski, and it shows. Stepping into Stahelski’s shoes is Len Wiseman, and this film comes across almost as a parody of the John Wick films rather than a continuation of them. 

The plot is flimsy and weak, chronicling the journey of Eve (Ana de Armas) who, after witnessing her father being murdered, is dropped into the care of The Director and raised to be a killing machine. Throughout her training, Eve is fixated on avenging her father’s death, and once out on assignment, begins to track down those that wronged her. It’s an uninspired story that is horribly on the nose as it repeatedly reminds the viewer of its connections to John Wick. Upon her introduction, a young Eve is dressed in a tutu, clinging onto a music box, within which a ballerina is encased, in a blatant attempt to re-enforce where she is headed. It’s an unnecessary move that immediately draws eyerolls from the audience, and this is only the start of such moments. 

The filmmakers further shoe horns Ballerina into John Wick by bringing Wick himself into the fray. Eve and John’s stories align during the events of Parabellum, but whilst their initial encounter makes a fraction of sense, his later side-quest in no way lines up to his story. Instead, it feels like a desperate attempt to legitimise Ballerina’s existence, so too does the inclusion of Continental New York owner Winston (Ian McShane) and his concierge, Charon (Lance Reddick). Simply having Eve visit a Continental would be enough to link into the world, but the film is afraid to veer too far from Wick and so he and his cohorts are bundled along for the ride, causing the wheels to fall off. 

Ana de Armas tries her best as Eve, but is thwarted by the direction and the script. With such a basic and generic backstory, Eve has barely any personality. There is nothing about her that makes her stand-out from the multitude of ballerina’s that surround her, and it is hard for the audience to connect to her. Even Perkins from the first John Wick had more development than Eve is afforded, and so the viewer spends two hours with a woman merely going through the motions. Ana de Armas is a far better talent than Ballerina allows her to demonstrate, and try as they might to set up Eve as the new John Wick, as a character she doesn’t have the required depth to endure.  

One thing that made John Wick movies, and Atomic Blonde alongside it, so exciting was that you could see Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron genuinely doing the stunts and choreography themselves. The camerawork here is clearly masking Ana de Armas, with her fighting skills better demonstrated in Bond’s No Time to Die. For some reason, the filmmakers have either opted to replace the lead with a stunt double, or shoot in such a way that it appears as though she is using a stunt double. Worse still, at several moments, the audience witnesses only the aftermath of the action, teasing greatness, but withholding it. The action sequences also lack the full clout to what audiences have come to expect. Whilst they are a step up from The Continental, none have the same adrenaline charge as what has come before. Several sequences, one including a flamethrower, come close, but ultimately pale in comparison. 

One aspect of Ballerina that does work is the soundtrack. It continues on threads of composition from the original John Wick films, rewiring them to fit into this new story. This alone would have been sufficient to solidify the connective tissue, but instead, they here opt to ram aspects of the original film down audiences throats at every opportunity; cue an anaemic attempt at a nightclub showdown and a ‘tied to a chair’ scene whose violent payoff occurs off screen. 

The reworked full title – From the World of John Wick: Ballerina – strips the film of any opportunity for Eve to be her own creation. As it stands, Atomic Blonde remains more of a John Wick spin-off than this, as that film captured the vibe and essence of the John Wick films effortlessly. In contrast, Ballerina feels lifeless, the neon hues of the Wick world are on, but nobody is home. Ballerina is missing the soul that drives the John Wick films, and though it tries to incorporate the flourishes that make the world so intriguing – such as the gold coin currency – it seems unsure how to use them properly. It is sad to see, as in theory, Ballerina could have been blisteringly fun, but is ultimately somewhat of a damp squib. 

Ballerina arrives in cinemas on 6th June 2025.