Ballerina

BALLERINA is a visual exhibition to feel the ACTION. Vibrant, frenetic, intense & vengeful, and I'm not just referring to the film, but also to Ana de Armas. An actress capable of anything with an electric aura that will paralyse you into not moving from your seat.

Ana de armas played the role so well. Keanu Reeves as always....his presence in the film is so strong.

OVERALL: It really fits the description "from the world of john wick". With new face de Armas, the John Wick franchise is revitalised with stunning action that feels fresh, not formulaic. Those missing some of that blistering, chaotic John Wick action will definitely find the movie a worthy addition to the franchise.

Ballerina attempts to spin a new chapter within the John Wick universe, following Eve (Ana de Armas), a young woman whose life is defined by tragedy and vengeance. At eleven, Eve watches her father die in a staged fight that feels more like a rehearsal than a life-or-death struggle, leaving her with both trauma and motivation. Twelve years later, she resurfaces as a highly trained assassin under the guidance of The Director.

On paper, this premise could have worked. Stories of young women trained from childhood to become killers have been told effectively before; think Hanna (2011), La Femme Nikita (1990), Anna (2019), Colombiana (2011), or even Léon: The Professional (1994). Those films succeeded either because of their emotional depth (Léon), their fresh energy (Hanna), or their stylistic uniqueness (Nikita). Unfortunately, Ballerina fails to carve out its own identity.

The film's biggest issue lies in its credibility. By the time we see Eve as an adult, she's supposed to be 23, but Ana de Armas, at 37, struggles to convince us of that. This isn't simply about age; it's about believability. Keanu Reeves in John Wick embodies his role completely, making every fight feel authentic and earned. Ana de Armas, by contrast, looks stunning and moves competently, but never truly inhabits Eve. Her performance feels more like an imitation of action heroines who came before her rather than a character she owns. By comparison, Ruby Rose's mute assassin in John Wick: Chapter 2, though a much smaller role, was distinctive, memorable and fresh.

The film's title also feels misused. Ballerina promises a thematic or symbolic connection between Eve's training as a dancer and her deadly precision as an assassin. Instead, the ballet element is barely touched upon. Once her backstory is out of the way, the title becomes irrelevant; she's simply Eve, another killer on a revenge mission. It's a missed opportunity that could have distinguished the film stylistically, much like Black Swan or even Hanna used physical discipline and art as metaphors for transformation and control.

Supporting roles don't elevate the film either. Gabriel Byrne delivers exactly the kind of performance we've seen from him dozens of times before, and his demise is handled with such predictability that even his character should have seen it coming. Keanu Reeves pops up briefly as John Wick, a welcome cameo, though the continued use of the nickname "Baba Yaga" feels increasingly awkward. In Russian folklore, Baba Yaga is an old witch, which hardly fits Wick's persona; "Boogeyman" would have been far more accurate.

Stylistically, Ballerina leans heavily on The Matrix-style training sequences (with Nogi serving as a Morpheus stand-in) and John Wick, like gun-fu choreography. But unlike John Wick, which elevated fight scenes into something operatic, here the action feels staged, repetitive, and strangely lifeless.

In the end, Ballerina is competent but uninspired. It doesn't push the genre forward or give Ana de Armas the kind of breakout action role she might have been hoping for. Instead, it lands somewhere between imitation and missed opportunity; a derivative echo of much better films.

Going to keep this short. While I loved John Wick 1-4, all for different reasons, this one was just one word: boring and repetitive. I am not sure what they were trying to do with this movie. First, there was a weak and very predictable storyline to this movie. Second, the main character just isn't as believable or has the charisma as Keanu / John Wick. There is no 'it' factor. I fell asleep multiple times in this movie whereas in John Wick 4, at almost 3 hours, I was on the edge of my seat refusing to go to the bathroom. Third, there is something about the lighting of many of the fight scenes. They just don't pop. They don't give you the ooh factor. They just seem redundant as if they ran out of ideas. Lastly, this just feels like they are going to run this franchise into the ground. Keanu might actually be portraying himself in real life if he keeps signing onto these movies. He just can't get out if you know what I mean.

Get ready for plenty of fighting and gunfight scenes when you take your seat. Nearly three-quarters of the film consists of this type of scene. While the quality of these scenes is slightly below that of the latest John Wick movies, they are still quite enjoyable. It looks like Ana de Armas must have worked very hard to be able to perform in these scenes. Her efforts deserve respect.

The plot of the movie is extremely simple. Perhaps if it had been slightly deeper and more interesting, the movie would have been better.

Another criticism is that our 50-55 kg main character takes extremely heavy blows from men but recovers in just a few seconds. This wasn't believable or realistic. Similarly, our main character is too emotional to be a death angel.

The grenade scenes were over-the-top and even absurd, but the flamethrower scene was the most entertaining.

The duration of John Wick's scenes may exceed your expectations, but that's a good thing, It was nice to see him.

In summary, if you've watched and enjoyed the John Wick movies, you should watch Ballerina. I hope there will be a sequel.

This isn't a film, it's a live action video game with a predictable plot and loads of energetically choreographed CGI to substitute for anything vaguely akin to a story. It starts with the young "Eve" (Victoria Comte) who witnesses her father's death at the hands of "The Chancellor" (Gabriel Byrne) before being adopted into the secret society of "John Wick" by "Winston" (Ian McShane) and his drag-like boss (Angelica Huston) where she learns to combine the artistic skills of a ballerina with deadly ninja ones - as she morphs into Ana de Armas (whilst everyone else remains exactly the same). Anyway, none of that really matters as she accidentally discovers the identity of the tribe who ruined her life and despite warnings of dire consequences, sets off on a lethal mission of retribution that takes her to a Czech Republic where everyone speaks perfect English. The thing is, it appears that her gang and the one she is pursuing have a sort of unwritten truce, and given she is about to throw that under the Skoda, Angelica has no choice other than to bring out of retirement the legendary you know who. Will that make anything any different or safer or even less repetitive? It not so much that this is derivative and really quite dull, it's that the dialogue is woeful and the constant frying pan to fire scenarios where people get used and abused are ridiculous. Knives, guns, bottles, pots, pans, kettles - even a pair of ruthlessly applied roller skates and some flamer throwers help our heroine along but it's hilarious that they always appear just when she needs them. She's got the points and gone up a level, She also heals as if she were the sister of "Wolverine" and no amount of training is going to remove a six inch shard of glass from your body without it impeding your ability to scale a wall and wield a pick axe. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but just like the series upon which this is based, it is unoriginal and after the umpteenth time she has survived against innumerable odds to fight again just had me wondering how long until she's back with "Ballerina II - the Pirouette". All of that said, though, it does look good on a cinema screen and that's where it ought to be seen. It will be even more unimpressive on a television where you can easily hit the fast-forward button.