Ballerina (2025)

Ballerina (2025) Movie Review — Vengeance in Rhythm, Fire in Motion

Theatrical Release Poster 

• Title: Ballerina
• Release Year: 2025
• Language: English
• Country: USA
• Genre: Action, Thriller, Spin-off
• Universe: John Wick Universe
• Director: Len Wiseman
• Lead Cast: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Anjelica Huston, Norman Reedus
• Runtime: Approx. 2h 10min
• Budget: Estimated $75 million
• Box Office (Opening Weekend): $89 million worldwide
• Music By: Marco Beltrami
• Cinematography: Dan Laustsen
• Production Companies: Thunder Road Films, 87Eleven Productions, Lionsgate
• Plot Summary: A trained ballerina-assassin, Eve, hunts down the faction responsible for her family’s murder, blending elegant dance with brutal violence.
• Setting: Between John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
• Highlight: Stylized opera house fight scene choreographed with 100 ballerinas
• Notable Appearance: John Wick (Keanu Reeves) in a significant role
• Awards Buzz: Best Actress (Ana de Armas), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score

In a world where shadows breathe and silence speaks louder than words, there emerges a figure trained not just to dance, but to destroy. From the heart of the John Wick universe comes a ballet of bullets, blood, and breathtaking beauty — "Ballerina" (2025), a spin-off that doesn't merely extend the Wick lore, but slashes open a new path with elegance and rage.

Directed by Len Wiseman, known for his precision in orchestrating action with atmosphere, "Ballerina" stars the fiercely graceful Ana de Armas in a role that redefines female-led action cinema. This isn't a story of revenge alone — it's a saga of identity, trauma, and the haunting music that plays in the background of every assassin's life.

The Plot: Grace Meets Grief

Eve Macarro, an orphan raised in the brutal cold of the Ruska Roma ballet academy, has witnessed more blood than beauty. Her family was murdered not by accident, but as part of a sinister cover-up by a faction of the High Table. She is a ballerina, yes — but one trained to pirouette into pain, to leap into death.

Set between the explosive events of "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum" and "Chapter 4," the movie tracks Eve’s path as she investigates her family’s murder and discovers a twisted conspiracy involving her own mentors. What starts as a cold-blooded mission soon evolves into a spiritual journey where Eve must confront her past, question her loyalty, and face the part of herself she was trained to hide.

Unlike John Wick's stoic silence, Eve is haunted by memory, by music, by emotion. She’s fire inside frost. And when her dance begins, it becomes clear — this is no ordinary assassin. This is a tempest in toe shoes.

The Cast: Faces of Fire

• Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro — A once-forgotten orphan turned lethal weapon of elegance.
• Keanu Reeves as John Wick — A spiritual brother, guiding her through fire with few words and lethal precision.
• Anjelica Huston returns as The Director, caught in a war between redemption and reputation.
• Norman Reedus as The Watchman — A mysterious mute assassin who communicates only through violence.
• Gabriel Byrne as The Chancellor — A High Table authority with secrets that could burn it all down.

Ana de Armas brings vulnerability and venom in equal parts, while Keanu’s appearance isn’t a cameo — it’s a critical axis in the plot’s momentum. Huston’s matriarchal menace and Reedus’s ghostly presence turn the film into a swirling, silent storm.

Production: Where Ballet Meets Bloodshed

Len Wiseman’s direction ensures every shot is calculated, every movement intentional. The cinematography, bathed in cool blues and blood reds, mirrors the duality in Eve’s soul. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen (also of John Wick fame) uses shadows like weapons and lets light bleed through cracked windows as if the world itself is wounded.

Filming took place in Prague, Berlin, and New York. The opera house battle took four weeks to choreograph and was filmed with 100 ballerinas, stunt doubles, and precision rigs to sync the action to Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake."

Every costume carries symbolism. Eve’s final outfit — a black tutu laced with kevlar — is a metaphor for elegance armored in agony.

Hidden Details You Might’ve Missed

1. Eve's tattoos mirror John Wick’s — a silent bond between outcasts.
2. The Watchman is rumored to be Caine’s lost protégé, linking to Donnie Yen’s character.
3. The ballet academy has a room called "The Red Room" — a subtle nod to both Wick and Marvel’s assassin lore.
4. Eve’s first kill as a child is portrayed in a dreamlike flashback where the gunshot echoes like a metronome.
5. The final fight is synced to a heartbeat-like score — the last beat slows as her enemy dies.

Box Office and Awards Potential

Opening with a global collection of $89 million in the first weekend, "Ballerina" is poised to become the highest-grossing John Wick spin-off yet. Critics hail Ana de Armas’s performance as Oscar-worthy, with some comparing her to Charlize Theron in "Atomic Blonde" but with more soul.

Nominations expected:

• Best Actress – Ana de Armas
• Best Cinematography – Dan Laustsen
• Best Original Score – Marco Beltrami
• Best Choreography in Action – A potential new category being pushed due to this film

Themes: Identity, Art, and Rage

Where Wick’s journey was about grief and consequence, Eve’s is about purpose and programming. Trained to be emotionless, her true battle isn’t against men with guns — it’s against the voice inside telling her she is nothing but a tool.

She uses ballet to remember. She uses violence to forget.

Every movement — from her plié to her pistol draw — is storytelling. This is not just "female John Wick" — this is the ballet of survival.

The Ending: Death as Closure

The final act takes place in a crumbling theater, where Eve faces the last member of the faction that killed her family. As she dances and fights simultaneously, flashbacks of her childhood play over the action, making each bullet feel like a heartbeat.

Her final kill ends not with a one-liner, but with silence. She doesn’t cry. She bows.

In the post-credit scene, Winston greets her with a dossier. Inside: a new name, a new contract. But she doesn’t answer.

Because now, for once, the ballerina rests.

Theatrical Release Poster 

Final Verdict

“Ballerina” is not just another action flick — it’s a cinematic crescendo of elegance and agony. Ana de Armas doesn’t play a role; she becomes an icon. It is a film about reclaiming identity through violence and rewriting legacy with grace.

Rating: 9.3/10

Tagline: She doesn’t dance to entertain. She dances to end you.