Ballerina

Movie Name: Ballerina
Year of Release: 2025
Director: Len Wiseman
Starring: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ava Joyce McCarthy, Juliet Doherty, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, David Castaneda, Victoria Comte, Daniel Bernhardt, Anne Parilaud, Robert Maaser
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review

"Ballerina" is Len Wiseman's most recent feature directorial endeavor since his unjustly maligned "Total Recall" remake, which premiered in 2012 and featured Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale. Since then he's been primarily operating on TV shows, which may justify why this new film has such a generic tone to it. The film follows the story of Eve Macarro, whom we first encounter at a tender age with her father by her side. They're both viciously attacked by a squad of heavily armed men, and she barely escapes. She witnesses her father's death and promises revenge. She is rescued by Winston from the Continental Hotel, who deposits her with the Russian crime family, Ruska Roma. They become her new family and she grows up training as a ballerina and as a killer. However she has never forgotten to men who killed her father, all of whom have a very distinctive mark in their wrist. While on one of her assignments, she notices one of her victims has that mark. She reaches out to Winston to learn more about it, and even though letting her know that information goes against the Ruska Roma's orders, he decides to do so anyhow. She is sent in the direction of a man who has a mark on his head, but who can let her know more about that distinctive mark. The man in question is trying to protect his daughter, and they're all soon running for their lives. The man is injured and his daughter is taken. Eve manages to escape, and eventually learns more about that mark when she is attacked yet again when trying to get more weapons. As she goes to the village where she was told people with that mark live, she runs into something that she did not anticipate. 

"Ballerina" was Lionsgate Studios attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the John Wick universe. As it turns out, the film didn't test well, and Chad Stahelski, the director and main creative force behind the John Wick films (and credited as a producer on this one), was brought in to do considerable reshoots for this film. Much like it happened with the execrable "Birds of Prey" directed by Cathy Yan, "Ballerina" also suffers from this Frankenstein aspect, where there are clearly two tones and visions on the film, that don't necessarily gel together. The film has a rather placid and generic vibe to it, which is punched quite a bit once the fight scenes kick it into high gear/energy. The film tries too hard to stick with the stylistic options that functioned with the John Wick series, and never truly manages to create its own vision, be it aesthetically, or for that matter with the characters that are introduced. Eve doesn't really have much to her as a character, aside from the revenge motivation. She doesn't seem to have any friendships, or relationships of any kind, and her sole motivation seems to be a hellbent revenge towards an individual she knows nothing of. There are certain aspects of the film that bring to mind Luc Besson's "Nikita" (Anne Parilaud who played that part briefly appears in this film), but whereas Mr. Besson's film emphasized the evolution of Nikita from anti-social marginal, to someone who is trying to adjust, living with the burden of being a hired assassin, this film bypasses all subtleties in the writing and development of the narrative. Shay Hatten who wrote "John Wick 3" and "John Wick 4", and the terrible diptych of Zack Snyder's "Rebel Moon", also writes this film, but fails to bring anything or anyone to life, focusing instead on creating action set pieces with lots of people getting killed. While the action set pieces, who seem to have the hand and polished point of view from Chad Stahelski, are indeed impeccably staged, the film for the most part doesn't rise above its mediocre character development, save for the moments where Keanu Reeves appears (even Anjelica Huston doesn't bring much to her character). Ana de Armas, who is indeed a versatile and talented performer is clearly miscast here: she lacks conviction, and fails to embody much of anything (comparing her with Angelina Jolie's performance in "Salt" or Charlize Theron's character in "Atomic Blonde" illustrate that dramatic difference). The supporting cast doesn't have much to work with, wasting the very talented Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, and Ian McShane needlessly. The production team is solid, including Romain Lacourbas's cinematography, Tyler Bates and Joel B. Richard's score, and Philip Ivey's production design. It's a forgettable endeavor for audiences and for everyone who spent time on this film.