After her father is hunted down and killed in front of her, Eve Macarro (played by Ana de Armas) seeks revenge on the tribe responsible. Newly orphaned, she’s invited to join the Ruska Roma family by Winston Scott (Ian McShane) and The Director (Angelica Huston), who see an opportunity to weaponize her anger by molding her into an assassin. After pushing herself to the brink in both ballet and fighting, Eve earns her chance in the field and is successful in her first few missions. In one of them, however, she’s attacked by a member of the same tribe who killed her dad and this only rekindles her thirst for revenge. She makes the emotional decision to turn her back on the Ruska Roma in order to track down The Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne) and his cult, even if it kills her.
To be frank, I came into the theater expecting BALLERINA to be an unabashed money grab, but I walked out considering it among the best films of the JOHN WICK franchise.
de Armas would never strike anyone as a bad ass but she proves that looks can be deceiving because that’s exactly what she is in BALLERINA. As her character gains experience she, too, gets more confident and natural in the demands of the role, a nice parallel for the audience. Not only that but her character arc is well written and is touched on throughout the script, filling in curious gaps along the way.
Unfortunately, per usual in Hollywood, the trailers ruined a handful of moments. For example, when the late Lance Reddick is working the front desk at The Continental, it would’ve been met with furious applause in every theater across the country. Instead, the previews robbed us of that moment by already revealing his inclusion.
BALLERINA has all the ingredients of a fun action flick: good performances, new and interesting ways to kill people, a story that makes sense, has a high re-watchability factor and, at about 2 hours, even has a solid runtime. That being said, there’s nothing special here to put it into the “Best of 2025” category alongside BOB TREVINO LIKES IT and SINNERS. It is, however, the best movie in the JOHN WICK franchise not named CHAPTER 4. An absolute surprise in an industry that rarely delivers one.
JKG SCORE: 7.5
Untitled Film Project 