Little Dancing, Lots of Fighting: “Ballerina (From the World of John Wick)” – Review
- Colton Gomez
- Jun 21
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 25
Review
By Colton Gomez | 06/21/25 | 2:30 P.M. Mountain Time
Action, Thriller | Rated R | 2 hr 5 min | "Ballerina (From the World of John Wick)" Release Date: June 6, 2025
“Ballerina (From the World of John Wick)” is a good action film in its stunts, creative fight scenes, and basic premise. However, the film quickly takes off to unbelievable heights, making it hard to stay invested. Eve’s story feels like the “John Wick” trilogy (it takes place before “4”) of compressed into one film. The action is a couple notches too high and the characters are a couple notches too low.
Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas) is a recruit at the Ruska Roma dancer-assassin academy, burdened with the pain of losing her father at a young age. True to the “John Wick” world, this is a revenge story. Eve looks for the group responsible, who all have the same x-shaped scar on their wrists. This leads her around Europe in a killing-spree as she figures out where she stands in the global criminal organization food chain. She meets several characters along the way including Pine (Norman Reedus), Winston (Ian McShane), and franchise star John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
The body count she wracks up seems to make her near the same level as Wick in skill, adaptability, and ruthless aggression. The movie starts briefly grounded until it takes us to two months after Eve’s first assignment, where she’s dismantling groups of fifteen or more. The second half of the film is where things go completely sideways and where I was just hoping things would end soon. She has the infinite endurance cheat, the revenge buff, aim bot, and protagonist armor. It’s just not fun to watch a character play the game on new game plus without earning the right to.
De Armas has demonstrated herself to be a more than capable action performer in gun-fu, martial arts, melee combat, and use of ranged weapons. She seems to have put in a lot of time in training to look that comfortable and adept, which is a massive feat. She really sells all of the punches she takes and throws but feels fairly empty of any character.
She doesn’t have very many lines but the ones she delivers are full of subpar writing which makes it difficult to convey believable emotion. About half the times she was speaking, I could see her trying to act instead of acting. The film is very one-sided to action violence and less to the side of emotional investment. I’m familiar with the franchise and its very exciting action sequences but “Ballerina” is trying to be solely that without much reason as to why I should care. Things seem to be too easy for her, so I know she’s got this. I can turn my brain off and start thinking about what to eat for dinner.
We get one scene in the beginning that is supposed to fuel her revenge story but frankly, it’s not enough to carry this character through that much pain, that much trauma, and that much time. We need to know who Eve is and who she becomes as an adult instead of one horrifying memory from her childhood. The creatives prioritized action violence believability and they neglected to give Eve a full character.
Overall, this story lacks any qualities that make it stick in my memory for any fond reason. Sure, the action is great, but also over the top. De Armas is a great stunt performer, but her emotional acting leaves something to be desired.
The journey Eve Macarro takes lessens the impact of Wick’s due to how fast she progresses. It seems the creatives and marketers behind the film knew that they couldn’t do another John Wick story because audiences have already seen that. They’re trying to do a reboot and a sequel while giving the audiences more of what they’ve come to expect in exciting ways. The effect of making Eve a superhuman killing machine lessens the killer instinct of John Wick, as she’s just come out of academy training. There’s an imbalance here that makes the Wick universe feel off and improperly cared for.
_______________________________________________________________
Review by Colton Gomez
Colton Gomez earned his BA in Film Studies from Weber State University. He owns and operates ColtonGomez.com. Here, he covers new releases in theaters and on streaming. For short versions of his reviews, check out his LetterBoxd
_______________________________________________________________
Summary
Comments