If you had told me ten years ago that John Wick would grow into a multi-film franchise — and Lionsgate’s main cash cow — with a bunch of spin-offs, I would have laughed in your face.
That said, I was absolutely seated to see Ana de Armas in the action franchise I most adore. This initial spin-off, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina — a truly horrible name — is a simplistic, derivative revenge film. Even if it appears to have been re-cut to high hell, Ana de Armas gives a powerful performance in this okay expansion of the *ugh* John Wick universe.
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MPA Rating: R (strong/bloody violence throughout, and language.)
Runtime: 2 Hours and 5 Minutes
Production Companies: Thunder Road Films, 87North Productions
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Len Wiseman
Writer: Shay Hatten
Cast: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves
Release Date: June 6, 2025
As a young girl, Eve Macarro (Victoria Comte) witnessed her assassin father’s death at the hands of mercenaries led by the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). Orphaned, she finds refuge with Winston (Ian McShane), head of the Continental, who introduces her to the Director (Anjelica Huston). The Director takes her in, and Eve begins training in the Ruska Roma tradition to become a ballerina-assassin. As an adult (Ana de Armas), her training complete, Eve is assigned to rescue and protect clients from human trafficking. During one of her missions, she notices that someone she kills bears the same markings as the mercenaries who murdered her father. Her priorities change — much to the Director’s dismay — as Eve sets out on a personal quest for vengeance, determined to uncover the truth behind her father’s death and take down the Chancellor.
Ana de Armas is a compelling actress who has made her mark with sheer command and conviction across the years following Knives Out. While her brief appearance in No Time to Die, in which she shared an action sequence scene with Daniel Craig, felt like a backdoor spin-off, de Armas was still a standout. Alas, the Knives Out to 007 pipeline didn’t get her that action spotlight… but Knock Knock to John Wick did! In Ballerina, De Armas is fully in control, an intimidating force. During a scene wherein she must face off against the Baba Yaga (Keanu Reeves) himself, I thought — for the three people excited for the Knock Knock reunion — “ooh, a showdown between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.” And “unstoppable force” is the best way to describe De Armas’ performance, as well as her character Eve Macarro.
Eve Macarro is characterized by her rebellious, scrappy nature that challenges the established norms of the Ruska Roma. De Armas’s mostly physical portrayal and remarkable stunt work propels Ballerina as her Eve is full of ruthlessness and unrelenting blind rage. Although the character writing is not of the highest quality, de Armas expresses a subtly empathetic anger, a result of her character’s profound trauma.
Given that this is the John Wick universe, many of Keanu’s qualities are present in Ana: she’s in full silent action-hero mode, grunting out dialogue as she steamrolls goons, using every object in her surroundings as a deadly weapon. Her deft movements command the screen, fusing grace and grit in every tactical action and combat scene. Her four months of intense preparation pay off in each thrilling moment. She’s a full-on unstoppable force, defying all odds — frequently upping her kill count with hand grenades without taking any damage, emerging without even a trace of smoke. But who am I kidding? This is the same series where John Wick gets comically run over by multiple cars and walks it off like nothing happened.
Although Ana de Armas is a convincing action star, her character and the straightforward revenge plot suffer from too many cooks in the kitchen. Screenwriter Shay Hatten, who wrote Chapter 3 — Parabellum and Chapter 4 and, gives Eve a very cliched revenge plot (not that I’d have preferred “mercenaries killed her cat”). Nobody walks into a John Wick movie for the plot, but the final cut is riddled with re-edits from director Len Wiseman and re-shoots by John Wick series director Chad Stahelski, resulting in a clash of visions that leaves the narrative feeling sloppy.
The film frequently introduces concepts tied to Eve’s background and arc, complicating her teased portrayal as a Kikimora—the Slavic spirit known as both a protector of the innocent and a destroyer of evil. Her morals are tested when her past leads her to Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus), who holds valuable information but also has an innocent daughter. But that part is quickly discarded, wasting a perfectly good Norman Reedus and turning what could have been a meaningful subplot into a pointless side quest.
Later, when Eve ends up in Prague, another crucial detail about her background comes to light, teasing a potentially interesting new twist. But as soon as a major — and predictable — revelation comes to light, it’s instantly dropped. There are clear signs that the movie went through extensive reshoots, as it uses all kinds of backdoors to shorten Eve’s character journey so that John Wick can join the fray. I’m not complaining about a John Wick appearance in a John Wick movie, especially since Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas share great scene presence and we get to see Wick reframed as an antagonistic big boss to Eve towards the climax. However, placing John Wick in a story that really shouldn’t have him in it is not doing Eve or de Armas justice, as it shows an insufficient faith in her ability to carry the film on her own. Since this occurs in the timeline between the third and fourth chapters, which begin immediately after one another, it’s also confusing. This might as well be called Ballerina (Featuring John Wick), because that’s undoubtedly what it is.
There are so many messy inconsistencies and poor story choices throughout that the only way to compensate is by delivering top-tier action sequences. As someone who’s seen Len Wiseman’s Total Recall (2012) and one of his Underworld films, there’s virtually no trace of Wiseman’s direction here. It’s obvious where his vision ends and Chad Stahelski’s begins — and stays. This is a ghostdirected movie if I’ve ever seen one: Stahelski’s trademark sleek filmmaking and brilliant action choreography — the elements that gave the world of John Wick its longevity — remain immaculate throughout. As mentioned earlier, Eve goes wild with explosives in scenes that rival Bomberman, and later unleashes a flamethrower like she’s Prince Zuko. Unsurprisingly, these two standout, clearly Stahelski-helmed sequences prove just how damn fun this series still is. Even though Ballerina lacks a distinct stylistic identity, I’ll take Stahelski’s action any day over a sea of mostly forgettable slop.
Despite being supported by a strong action performance from a grenade-throwing, flamethrowing Ana de Armas, Ballerina’s obvious retooling to fit into Stahelski’s world of John Wick prevents this spin-off from blowing up in its own right.
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