Early on in Ballerina, the first movie spinoff of the John Wick franchise, we flash to a moment from 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, where the Director of the Ruska Roma assassin group (Anjelica Huston) meets with John Wick (Keanu Reeves). At this point in the movie series, we’ve already seen Wick kill his way through countless rivals and survive unbelievable odds, so it makes sense when the Director states, “All of this for what? Because of a puppy?” In just over a decade, the John Wick franchise has now had four baseline movies, a TV spinoff with The Continental, and now its first spinoff film, Ballerina, with many other John Wick extensions in the pipeline. A decade later, it’s easy to forget that this all just started with a man pissed that his dog was killed. As this series has grown, it has become increasingly convoluted in ways that are both entertainingly silly and interesting in how they flesh out this world, where every other person seems to be an assassin. What started as a simple revenge tale has been built up into an entire worldwide enterprise of different groups of trained killers, underground safe havens, and an economic system that seems based on paying a single gold coin for any goods or services. More than any other story in this series, Ballerina can often get lost in the mechanics of this world, as the titular character is a cog in one of these assassin groups, while also over-explaining the past of Ana de Armas’ lead character, Eve. But when Ballerina leans into what always made the John Wick series fun — over-the-top fights and ludicrously fun action scenarios —this spinoff becomes a worthy entry in the John Wick canon.
What Is ‘Ballerina’ About?

We first meet Eve as a kid, played by Victoria Comte, who witnesses her father’s murder at the hands of a man known as the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). With nowhere to go, Eve is taken by Winston Scott (Ian McShane) to her “father’s family,” known as the Ruska Roma assassin group. Twelve years later, Eve (now played by Ana de Armas) has become a powerful assassin in her own right, wanting revenge on the man who killed her father all those years ago. In her attempt to find the Chancellor, Eve will fight and kill her way through waves of people, move away from the guidance of the Ruska Roma, and even come face-to-face with the infamous Baba Yaga himself, John Wick. As we see in Eve’s training, she is smaller and might seem less threatening, but she’s told to cheat and even “fight like a girl.” While many of the fights in the John Wick series have often relied on endless gunfights from people wearing bulletproof suits, Ballerina makes it so Eve has to use her surroundings and clever tactics to gain the upper hand in her battles. We’re shown in her training that going head-to-head with someone bigger than her will only lead to failure, but if she fights on her own terms and finds weaknesses she can manipulate, she can win against whoever she fights. If this means kicking guys in the groin, using an ice axe, or just chucking a bunch of grenades all over the place to survive, that’s what Eve is going to do.
‘Ballerina’ Is the Vision of Three Filmmakers, but It Mostly Works Out in the End

To really get into what works and what doesn’t about Ballerina, you have to take a look behind the camera and the film’s production. Ballerina was written by Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead, Rebel Moon) as a spec script that wasn’t actually part of the John Wick franchise. Instead, it was supposedly a humorous take on the action film that played with the conventions of the genre. Hatten would go on to write John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4 (Ballerina takes place between the events of these two films), before shifting this script into a spinoff for the John Wick franchise. For the most part, this works. Between his installments of the John Wick franchise and now Ballerina, Hatten has brought a considerable amount of comedy and absurdity to this world and these adventures, without ever taking away from their stakes. Yet Ballerina also tries to cram a ton of exposition into this story that probably isn’t needed, and is arguably more plot than John Wick received in all four movies combined. The first act, especially, is jam-packed with discussions of various groups, familial dynamics, and the deeper workings of these aforementioned groups. Even by the third act, it feels like we’re getting lore drops at unnecessary points. Again, considering how much story Ballerina is trying to cram in here, it’s easy to forget how inherently simple this series has always been. And as wonderful as it always is to see Keanu Reeves as John Wick, his inclusion here to tie this into his universe often feels extremely forced. Obviously, this is a film that will do far better with this connection than without, but Reeves is shoehorned in in ways that are often laughable. He’s not a major part of the narrative either, which only makes his addition even sillier when it does happen. Even though this series has been centered around him for years, it might be time to let him stay buried.

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It’s also hard to ignore the fact that Ballerina technically had two directors working on this spinoff. Ballerina is credited to Len Wiseman, best known for directing Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, and the 2012 remake of Total Recall. In many of these films, the action can be clunky, muddled, and without much of an impact. Considering the John Wick movies usually allow the viewer to feel each blow and gunshot, it’s a bit of an odd choice that can occasionally be felt in Ballerina, especially in the first act, when the film is overwhelmed with exposition and the fights are fairly standard and are quite forgettable. For example, in one scene early on, Eve has to fight a man while she wields an ice ax, and it just feels lifeless and without the sense of danger that it desperately needs. However, after initial filming was completed, there were several months of additional filming, helmed by Chad Stahelski, director of the first four John Wick films. Now, while it’s unclear what Wiseman directed and what Stahelski was responsible for, there is a noticeable shift in quality within the action sequences. Based on their previous works, Wiseman and Stahelski have two completely different ways of handling action. Wiseman’s films often play like films you might catch on a Sunday afternoon while changing the channel — an enjoyable, often mindless type of action that’s fun to get lost in. Whereas Stahelski is much more focused on making us feel the weight of each fight, keeping us on the edge of our seats. Without knowing who directed what, this first act, with its uninspired fights and jumbled action sequences, certainly feels more in line with Wiseman. Whereas the further the film goes, these fight scenes seem like what we’ve seen from Stahelski in the past.
When ‘Ballerina’ Nails the Action, It’s Some of the Most Fun You’ll See This Summer

Image via Lionsgate

But when Ballerina gets cooking, it becomes an absolute blast. As previously mentioned, Eve has to attack these fights with some cunning, or just complete blunt force, and that’s when the film really takes off. At its best, Ballerina leans into what one can assume are the more ridiculous aspects of Hatten’s original script, playing with the absolutely bonkers nature of these types of films. In one particularly clever scene, we meet Eve at the end of a fight, walking through the bodies she’s killed as she picks up stray weapons and leaves the scene. But as the scene appears to be over, it kickstarts another sequence of events that comes out of nowhere. Much like the John Wick films, Ballerina is at its most fun when it’s finding ingenious ways to handle a fight. In another sequence, Eve finds a shitload of grenades, and naturally, she uses them at every opportunity she can, which includes some of the more gruesome deaths we’ve seen in this series. Then, a piece of duct tape can be used to combine a gun and a knife into one killing weapon. Plates, ice skates, even dueling flame throwers, everything is a weapon in Ballerina, and that’s key to what makes this film so much fun. Especially in the third act, Ballerina really lets loose and goes all-in with how preposterous this universe can be, but it revels in the farcical nature of how wild things can get in the heat of a fight.
Ana de Armas Is a Great Replacement for John Wick

Image via Lionsgate

In doing this, Ana de Armas is an absolute blast as Eve, showing just how excellent she is in action films for the first time since her scene-stealing moments in 2021’s No Time to Die. When we first meet her version of Eve, she’s practicing her pirouettes at the Ruska Roma, refusing to give up until she gets it right, leaving bloody marks on the stage. It’s a perfect encapsulation of Eve’s determination to keep pushing forward and fight through whatever is in her way. Similarly, de Armas gives her all in these fights, creating a dynamic that is often equally as hard-hitting as those found in the John Wick franchise, but with a much scrappier, improvised quality to her approach. The fights are just as brutal, often even more so, but there’s also a more palpable feeling that Eve might not be able to achieve her goals with as much ease as Wick, especially since she’s just starting out in this world of assassins. The John Wick series has had its fair share of incredibly badass female action stars, like Rina Sawayama’s Akira in Chapter 4 and Halle Berry’s Sofia Al-Azwar in Chapter 3 — Parabellum, and de Armas also proves that maybe the future of the John Wick franchise should lie with women.

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As for the rest of the cast, they mostly vary from reminders of previous films in the John Wick series to more generic, action film trope characters. It’s lovely to see Charon once more in what is Lance Reddick’s final on-screen appearance, and McShane’s Winston is a fun connection to the larger world, making him almost the center of the Wickiverse. It’s also great to see Anjelica Huston have more to do as the Director, and this would be a fantastic character to expand even further on if this gets a sequel. Similarly, we should have more of Norman Reedus’ Daniel Pine, as he also seems to be a lot of setup without much payoff. And yes, Reeves is, of course, an entertaining addition, but he just doesn’t feel as essential here. Gabriel Byrne’s Chancellor is mustache-twirling in his approach as the main villain, but he doesn’t have much to do here other than sit and wait for Eve to attack, even though his cadre of villains and their town of assassins leads to the best segment of the entire film in the third act. Ballerina gets off to a shaky start that almost feels like it misunderstands what has made the John Wick series so much fun for so long. Yet once the absurdity of the action takes hold, and Ana de Armas gets to prove herself as a fitting potential heir to this franchise, Ballerina captures the blunt, chaotic action that this series thrives on. At this point, maybe it’s time to let Wick rest in peace and allow someone else to take the wheel of this series. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina comes to theaters on June 6.

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina eventually captures the madcap action that makes this series great and proves that Ana de Armas is a wonderful successor to this series.

Release Date

June 6, 2025

Runtime

125 Minutes

Director

Len Wiseman

Writers

Shay Hatten, Derek Kolstad

Pros & Cons

Ana de Armas proves that maybe she should be the future of the John Wick franchise.
The action scenes are just as off-the-wall and wild as you’d hope.
The third act is an absolutely bonkers series of events that is a lot of fun.

Ballerina often gets too focused on exposition and expanding this world.
As great as Keanu Reeves is, maybe this series doesn’t need him anymore?
It takes a while for the action to be at the level it should be at.