Film Review: Ballerina (殺神John Wick之芭蕾殺姬) (2025) - USA
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (7/10)
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia)
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“Ballerina" is a film of two halves, a student who hasn't quite mastered her teacher's lessons but still puts on a show worthy of a passing, if not quite honor-roll, grade.
It exists, as the marketing relentlessly reminds us, "From the World of John Wick," and that is both its greatest asset and its most crippling burden. To step into the Continental Hotel is to invite comparison to one of the most meticulously crafted action franchises of our time, and for its first hour, "Ballerina" stumbles under that weight. The direction by Len Wiseman lacks the balletic precision of Chad Stahelski; the early fights are a mess of swish-pans and choppy edits, techniques used to hide what the "Wick" films proudly display. It feels like a cover band playing the right notes but missing the soul.
The story is the series' familiar, and often sufficient, engine of revenge. Ana de Armas is Eve Macarro, the ballerina-assassin we met briefly in "Parabellum," who seeks vengeance for the murder of her father at the hands of a shadowy figure known as the Chancellor (a reliably gravitas-filled Gabriel Byrne). The plot is a simple fuse leading to a powder keg, and the dialogue by Shay Hatten often provides the matches with clunky, eye-rolling lines that the stoic "Wick" films would never utter. "When you deal in blood, there must be rules," someone intones. I sighed. The "Wick" world shows us these rules; it doesn't have its characters recite them like a community theater Macbeth.
But then, something shifts. Around the time Byrne’s villain takes center stage, the film finds its footing, or perhaps remembers why we’re all here. A spectacularly inventive fight in a snow-blanketed restaurant feels like a direct apology for the earlier clumsiness. The choreography tightens, the camera holds its shot, and the film embraces the goofy, silent-comedy logic that underpins the best "Wick" violence. I laughed aloud at a perfectly timed sight gag involving a television cycling through Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges—a welcome admission of the franchise's true influences.
This energy carries through to a final act that is essentially one long, escalating, gloriously ridiculous action sequence, as Eve takes on an entire European village of armed-to-the-teeth henchmen. It’s here that de Armas, capable if a bit anonymous in the dramatic scenes, truly shines. Her movement is almost too fluid, lacking the grueling, palpable effort Reeves brings to Wick, but it creates its own kind of deadly dance. And yes, Keanu Reeves appears, his presence feeling a bit like contractual fan service until the script surprisingly gives him something more to do than just look cool. He still rules.
"Ballerina" never quite escapes the long shadow of its mentor. Its first half is shaky, its script often tin-eared, and its tactics sometimes idiotic (attacking an assassin in an armory is a special kind of folly). But by the end, it achieves a certain unpretentious, propulsive fun. It’s a sturdy bridge from one "John Wick" chapter to the next, and sometimes, a bridge that gets you there with a few thrilling jumps along the way is enough. (Neo 2025)