Ballerina (2025)

Ballerina is as much a John Wick movie as any John Wick movies. The plot is over the top and filled with enough shark jumping to satisfy the indulgent crowd. The action is intricate and choreographed within an inch of its life. The film even has extended sequences featuring Wick himself. I'll admit, for me a lot of Ballerina feels like just repeating the John Wick schtick. Fortunately de Armas is charismatic enough to carry the film. But with such a heavy use of Keanu and a reliance of repetitive formula, Ballerina suffers from not distinguishing itself enough.

There is one big exception to this and it is likely what I enjoyed most about the film. de Armas' Eve, while very much a female Wick analogue, breaks the female action hero mold in an effective manner. Much of the action movie trope is for female action heroes to be hyper masculine. But Eve isn't Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley. This film goes out of its way to use Eve's femininity as her strength. She is effective because she is not male, not masculine. she is the titular ballerina, a profession not seen as manly in anyway (ask male ballerinas how they are viewed) yet the film spends time showing us just how brutal mastering the art form is, what a tole it takes and how tough one must be to excel at it. It flips the script on what makes on "tough". I found the film's examination of gender interesting here. 

But this is a John Wick film so explorations of themes like this are sidelined for the main event. The action. Fans won't be disappointed by the set pieces. They are gloriously ridiculous and a lot of fun. The plot may make you roll your eyes a few times (not a rare experience in this franchise) but if you're prepared for that you can enjoy it for what it is. I wish the film hadn't relied entirely so much on wedging Wick in here. The initial appearance makes sense and reflects events of John Wick 3 but the climax not only doesn't fit the timeline well (if I understand it this is happening during the events of JW3 or before JW4 when John was pretty occupied running from the High Table's assassins and wouldn't have much time for a side gig on behalf of the Director), but also doesn't fit entirely with his character. Sure he's prepared to bend rules for what he thinks is right but it could be argued he is completely abdicating the mission he was sent to do. That's debatable so I'll leave that for now. 

I wish the film had had enough courage to bank on it's star instead of needing so much Keanu but I get where we are in the whole realm of big budget sequel politics. Even that aside, Ballerina feels like it doesn't hit the heights of the best Wick films as it is a little too safe, but it also isn't the worst Wick film out there. What it is at its least is proof of concept that the "World of John Wick" is strong enough to flesh out a much larger "universe" than just stories about John himself. 

Ballerina

Starring: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves 

Director: Len Wiseman

Writer: Shay Hatten