From the World of John Wick: Ballerina 2025 Review
“Ballerina” entertains, but it can’t shake off the towering presence of *John Wick,* probably the best action series of the last decade. This film trips over the shiny, bullet-proof achievements of Wick’s universe, especially when its flaws line up with the original’s slam-dunk strengths. Still, the movie’s rookie killer—young Eve Macaro, played by Ana de Armas—has picked up a few killer moves from her mentor. Like the first half of *Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,* it takes its sweet time before the pacing finally catches up with the punches. Once the second half kicks in, the fights snap together with the kind of breathless energy you hope for in a movie billed “From the World of John Wick.” The final act is basically a single, gloriously over-the-top action set piece, and it’s the sort of silly, unabashed fun you want after a title like this.
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| From the World of John Wick: Ballerina 2025 Review |
Set somewhere between *John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum* and *John Wick: Chapter 4*—even though the timeline is a noodle of odd overlaps—*Ballerina* spins off a side character we glimpsed in the first act of *Parabellum.* Eve Macaro shows up again, this time training under the Ruska Roma, a tribe of assassins who carry daggers as easily as they do pliés. After a crooked syndicate kills her dad, Eve is scooped up by Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and handed over to the Director (Anjelica Huston), the fierce matriarch who can order a headshot and a pirouette in the same breath. The connections help, even if the timeline keeps doing backflips.
The opening fight scenes in Len Wiseman’s new movie will disappoint anyone who loves what the John Wick series has done for action filmmaking. The Wick films have set a standard for clean, calm long takes that let you see every move. “Ballerina” quickly turns to the old tricks that the Wick team always avoided: quick cuts, shaky camera angles, and the odd beefy slam designed to cover for shaky choreography and underwhelming stunt work. Wiseman and his team, to their credit, never cut visibility completely—cinematographer Romain Lacourbas keeps the frame wide enough for us to follow the action. But Jason Ballantine’s clipped editing and the drunken camera shakes are impossible to miss in the first few brawls, especially when you’ve just binged the earlier Wick films.
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| From the World of John Wick: Ballerina 2025 Review |
“Ballerina” starts off with a short sequence showing Eve holding her own in the field. Once that’s done, the movie throws YOU straight into the fire. The moment Eve spots an assassin with the same tattoo that marked the men who killed her father, her goal snaps into focus: find the killer, burn the world until they pay. The plot is simple, just like the best revenge stories. John Wick lost a dog; Eve lost her dad, and she’s not stopping until she lights the sky on her enemies.
Between bloody ballet lessons in an abandoned Prague dance studio, she runs into a way-too-brief Norman Reedus at the Continental. He gives her a lead, pointing her back to the Chancellor, and from there it’s open season. Eve starts taking his empire apart piece by piece—windows shatter, cars flip, and fire follows in her wake. By the time the ashes settle, the Director places a call that only one name can fill: Wick. The assassin who walked on the ashes of his own world is now being asked to put Eve back on the leash. The screen’s already heating up, and the audience knows the dance has only just begun.
When Byrne’s Chancellor walks back into "Ballerina," everything from pacing to the fight scenes snaps into sharper focus. The best moment comes inside a snow-draped restaurant, where the camera weaves through tables to track stunts that outdo the wildest moments of the Wick trilogy. Right before that, the movie cracks its best joke: a TV scans through goofy clips, showing how Keaton and the Stooges whisper secrets into the DNA of these flicks. The cut from laughter to ice-cold action flips a switch. I half expected to see Stahelski whispering notes on a monitor as the final mix rolled. The beats are tidy, the timing is sharp, and the heart is still trying to smile.
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| From the World of John Wick: Ballerina 2025 Review |
“Ballerina” mostly keeps the third act firing on all cylinders. The surprise Wick cameo that leaked in the trailers comes off a little forced—it’s clearly there to cheer the crowd rather than serve the story—but the legend sticks around longer than you might think and still rips it. As for de Armas, she’s capable, even magnetic in spots, but lacks the haunting grandeur of the series’ best returns. Reeves, now 60, still rips, and it’s the fragility he brings that deepens the glamour of the carnage; you can see wear in every stomp. De Armas, in contrast, glides a little too effortlessly through the hellfire. She nails the quieter sells, though, never trying too hard for the tears. The script, by Shay Hatten, dips more often into the “hey it’s a cool line” stash than the others did, and between bullets there isn’t quite the room to stitch new flesh on the bones. Wick movies carve identity through body count and the hum of myth—literal words feel hollow. “When you deal in blood, there must be rules”? Sure, buddy. Keep shooting.
You can tell the script skimmed the basics when the fights and gunplay follow the same pattern. Masked guys in black run through every doorway like extras in a practice drill, and I mean every doorway. One scene has them storming an armory to “protect” Eve. Uh, guys, there are live grenades and she’s a pro assassin. Kind of a bad time to drop all your cover.
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| From the World of John Wick: Ballerina 2025 Review |
Still, the wheels fall back in line when the last act rolls in. Without dropping any spoilers, the payoff is Eve chased through a whole European village full of people who all want her head. The stunts land like silent film gags, tight and a little silly. Maybe we’re meant to treat this flick as the last little footbridge from the last “John Wick” to the one on the way. Can I imagine the franchise running smoothly to the next stop? Sure, solid enough.
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