From the World of John Wick: Ballerina info:
Director: Len Wiseman
Writer: Shay Hatten, Derek Kolstad
Starring: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Anjelica Huston, and Gabriel Byrne
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. I am back after taking a week off. Nothing crazy, just lots of life stuff going on, and I didn’t have time to catch a movie. However, I did release a nice, double-sized review the week before of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”; you can check that out here. Additionally, I have several other reviews ready for your reading pleasure, which you can find here.
For this week, I’m back at it, with another new movie review…and it’s another good one. 2025 has been quite the hot streak for good movie releases, plus many are hopefully on the way as well. But, before we get into “Ballerina” this week, let me first do the normal spoiler warning. There a quite a few things that take place in this film that I want to discuss, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to come back when you have.
Ok, so “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” (which I will just call Ballerina from this point on) was directed by Len Wiseman, who is better known for his work directing some of the “Underworld” movies. Unless I am misreading, this is his first major motion picture since he directed “Total Recall” back in 2012. He had a big task in front of him, and in my opinion, he rose to the task.
Fun fact, “Ballerina” takes place during parts of “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and overlaps the gap between Chapters 3 and 4. We even get to see a couple of scenes of Wick (Reeves) as if we were watching a different angle from Chapter 3. Lots of recurring characters also make an appearance throughout the story. I will get to them because first, we need to start at the beginning.
Eve (de Armas) is a little girl when her father is killed. With the help of Winston (McShane), she makes her way to The Director (Huston) and is raised there to be an assassin in the Ruska Roma. Eventually, she becomes one of the best, and during one of her jobs, she kills one of the guys associated with the group that killed her father. Taking this knowledge to The Director, she is told it was forbidden to go after anyone in that group. But of course, we wouldn’t have a movie if she didn’t.
After a quick visit to Winston, her trail leads her to The Continental Hotel, so we are graced with the presence of Charon (Lance Reddick) one more time. I was happy to hear that he had filmed these scenes before he died in real life, so no CGI Charon here! He checks Eve into the hotel, and she immediately goes to work to track down cult member Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus). But gets more than she bargained for by finding out he was hiding out at the hotel with his young daughter.
Even though she tries to help them out, they all end up getting caught. In true John Wick fashion, there is plenty of action and gunfights to go around. Including the fun one that takes place here in the hotel. But, just when you think she will get away, The Chancellor (Byrne) steps in to take her “home”. This little girl is his granddaughter, and he wants her and his clan’s city. I say city, because this place is the size of a small mountain town.
When Eve shows up, she quickly learns that the whole town is a part of this cult as they all try to take her out the moment she shows up. I did like the shot of her looking at the ballerina dolls right before hell breaks loose. Then the best sequence in the movie happens. After the Chancellor calls the Director to make Eve stop, she ends up sending Wick to put her down. After a brief meeting in the snow and a short fight, he gives her until midnight to do what she has to do. Eve then lights up her attackers with a flamethrower as Wick looks on from high. Eventually, Wick ends up helping her, which leads to a great fight scene with him, which reminds us of his four previous outings.
Now, for the biggest issue I have with the whole movie. Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno), who was against Eve the whole time, turns out to be her sister… and then immediately dies. Honestly, I didn’t get that. That’s not nearly as bad as having a great character like Daniel Pine and then just making him disappear. But those are the only two down parts of this I found. Anyway, Eve gets Pine’s daughter back, Wick calls the Director to update, and that’s it.
Overall, “Ballerina” was a well-made movie that fit into the John Wick universe very nicely. Ana de Armas is a certified badass who can keep up with any other character in this franchise. Tons of action, shooting, fighting, and intense scenes to keep your blood pumping and in your seat, skipping the popcorn refill.
If they keep making John Wick spin-offs as good as this, I will be there for all of them. In the meantime, I give this one a solid 8 out of 10. It was very enjoyable, even if a couple of the character arcs fell flat.
That’s it for this week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. Have you watched “Ballerina” yet? If so, what are your thoughts? Do you think this stacks up compared to the previous “John Wick” movies? How did you think de Armas performed in this role? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and I will be back next week with another mindless movie review of some sort.
