Movie Review: Ballerina: A John Wick Story (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4/5 stars)

Ballerina: A John Wick Story pirouettes onto the screen with guns blazing, bringing ballet, bloodshed, and bullet-time elegance to a whole new level. Directed by Len Wiseman and starring a razor-sharp Ana de Armas, this spin-off delivers exactly what you’d expect from the John Wick universe — brutal choreography, stylish assassins, and a world soaked in rules, rituals, and revenge.

Set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the film follows Rooney, a highly trained ballerina-assassin who’s out for vengeance after her family is slaughtered by a rival faction. What makes Rooney different? She’s not just another trained killer — she’s precise, poetic, and terrifyingly graceful. Think Black Swan meets Atomic Blonde — with a dash of Wick’s signature gun-fu.

Ana de Armas is magnetic. Her physicality is as convincing as her emotional depth. Whether she’s delivering a headshot while mid-spin or silently mourning her past in a candlelit chapel beneath the Continental, she sells every frame. Cameos from John Wick alumni — including a brief, icy appearance from Keanu Reeves himself — only sweeten the deal.

The action sequences are a masterclass in elegance and destruction. A standout scene set inside an opera house during a performance of Giselle is both beautiful and brutal, as violence unfolds in sync with orchestral crescendos. Wiseman brings a slightly dreamier tone than Stahelski’s mainline entries, but it works — this is John Wick from a different, deadlier angle.

Some critics may point to a thinner plot or familiar beats, but honestly? You’re not here for Shakespeare. You’re here for a ballerina in a bloodstained tutu unloading a suppressed pistol into a corridor of doomed mercenaries. And Ballerina absolutely delivers.

Final Verdict:
Stylish, savage, and surprisingly emotional, Ballerina adds fresh elegance to the John Wick mythos. Ana de Armas is a force — and after this, you’ll think twice before underestimating anyone in pointe shoes.