Ballet, but make it lethal.
BALLERINA is a ferocious, artful spin-off that dances right into the blood-soaked heart of the John Wick universe. Set between Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina trained by the Ruska Roma, who embarks on a ruthless quest for vengeance after the murder of her father. This classic revenge premise is a hallmark of the franchise—and here, it's handled with a grace and brutality all its own.
Eve’s transformation from a grieving daughter to a deadly assassin is central to the story. She begins as a naive young woman, shaped by pain and indoctrination, but over time becomes confident, focused, and lethal. Her growth mirrors John Wick’s own trajectory: trauma leads to resolve, and resolve leads to carnage. Like Wick, she’s not born a killer—she’s made into one. And her path is paved with bodies, ballet slippers, and betrayal.
What truly sets BALLERINA apart is its action choreography. The film takes the elegance of dance and fuses it with savage, inventive fight scenes. Eve doesn’t just fight—she performs. She pirouettes through glass, executes roundhouse kicks mid-jeté, and delivers death with a kind of choreographed precision that’s equal parts Swan Lake and bloodbath. One particularly unhinged moment involves an ice-skate beheading. Another uses a flaming chandelier like a war club. It’s absurd in the best way.
Director Len Wiseman (with reported reshoots by franchise veteran Chad Stahelski) maintains the glossy, neon-lit aesthetic that fans expect, but adds operatic flair. The Ruska Roma’s world is expanded with a cold, religious rigor, and we see more of the inner workings of this brutal underworld institution. Even small visual beats—like Eve sharpening her pointe shoes into blades—speak volumes about the film’s commitment to merging style with savagery.
Ana de Armas is physically commanding in the lead role. While the script gives her little time to dive deep emotionally, she owns the screen with silent intensity and kinetic power. Her Eve isn’t chatty—she’s a storm with perfect posture.
Anjelica Huston returns as the Director, offering deadpan menace and the best one-liners in the film. And yes, Keanu Reeves shows up. His role is brief but important, grounding the story in the broader mythology and giving Eve’s arc some emotional weight by association.
The plot won’t surprise anyone familiar with the revenge genre. It’s linear, brutal, and occasionally thin on nuance—but it doesn’t need to be profound when it’s this propulsive. And to the film’s credit, its lean narrative makes room for some of the most outrageous and entertaining action sequences in the franchise to date.
If there’s a flaw, it’s in the tone. BALLERINA occasionally struggles to balance grim vengeance with the Wick series’ flair for irony and humor. It flirts with cartoonish absurdity—flamethrowers, grenades in mouths—but reins it in just enough to keep from spiraling into parody. That tension can feel uneven, but it’s never dull.
Ultimately, BALLERINA adds meaningful depth and glorious chaos to the John Wick universe. It doesn’t just expand the lore—it kicks the door down and sets the stage on fire. With themes of revenge, loyalty, identity, and survival, it tells a familiar story in a beautifully unfamiliar way. Fans of the franchise will feel right at home. Newcomers? They’ll be hooked the moment Eve pirouettes into her first kill.
