Ballerina

UK Release Date. 7 June 2025
Certification. 15
Running Time. 2 hours 4 mins
Director. Len Wiseman
Cast. Ana de Armas, Gabriel Byrne, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves.
Rating. 66%

Review.

The introductory tagline, ‘From the world of John Wick’ is both a blessing and a curse. For the challenge for any spin-off adventure is two-fold. Firstly, the director has to identify and embrace the hallmark of the original film and/or franchise. Secondly, the film has to exist as its own film. That’s a near-impossible balancing act, and whether fair or not, that was my overriding emotion as I headed into Ballerina. I didn’t have terribly high hopes for the film, especially considering the rumoured rewrites and reshoots. 

The solitary, enduring hope was the delectable Ana de Armas. With only 10 minutes of screen time in Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time To Die, the Cuban-born actress burst onto the screen in the supporting role of naive CIA operative, Paloma.

Ballerina is (loosely) set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. In fact, the ‘ballerina’ character is briefly introduced - albeit played by a different actress, Unity Phelan - in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum.

In Ballerina, Ana de Armas plays Eve Macarro, who after a decade of training at the Ruska Roma Conservatory under the watchful eye of The Director (a formidable Anjelica Huston), is eager to graduate and get out in the field. Alongside the pliés and pirouettes, Eve is trained in every aspect of killing, and ultimately is deadly set on revenge on the Tribe that murdered her father.

The film suffers from a slow start, constrained by pedestrian, heavy-handed exposition. But here’s the thing about the first half of the film - it is not the part that anybody will remember. Instead, there’s an energy that Ballerina taps into about halfway through, and from that explosive moment on, the film exponentially improves. The visit to the sommelier in Prague alone earns Ballerina its place in the world of John Wick. 87 North Productions have consistently had a creative approach to action alongside a signature blend of close-up gun-fu.

Despite the extensive reshoots - John Wick director Chad Stahelski apparently reshot in Prague for three months to bring the film in line with the John Wick franchise - elements of the film are woefully underdeveloped. For example, an intriguing subplot involving Eve and the enigmatic Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno) is over before it begins. In the final act, the action migrates to the remote alpine village of Hallstatt, where the tension melts and even the close-quarter fight choreography becomes gruelling at times.

In terms of the ‘girls with guns’ subgenre, Eve Macarro is certainly on a par with Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) in Atomic Blonde. However, no matter how delectable Ana de Armas is, she struggles to reach the heights of Anne Parillaud's portrayal of Nikita in Luc Besson’s seminal La Femme Nikita.