The John Wick films have been a surprising success of the 21st century. Ultra-violent action movies that have improved with each episode, culminating in the fourth entry, which features a spectacular fight sequence in Montmartre, Paris, that has taken the action flick to a whole new level. It’s a world that could be expanded, and so we now have Ballerina, or From The World of John Wick: Ballerina. However, capturing the success of the original films is challenging, and this film has struggled with reshoots, release delays, and a director who seems to have been replaced. The result is some excellent action sequences, but a film that is messy and disjointed.

Eve is a young girl who witnessed the death of her father. Taken in by the director of the Ruska Roma organisation, a group whose main job is to protect those who need it, Eve, now a first-class expert, decides to go after the men who killed her father but this leaves her out in the open as its not part of the rules of the organisation, so she is alone looking for vengenence.

This troubled production began filming in 2022, but after a series of disappointing test screenings, it was decided that the film needed reshoots. John Wick director Chad Stahelski took over from Len Wiseman, whose credits included The Underworld movies and Die Hard 4.0, by upping the action scenes and introducing new characters, as he didn’t want the John Wick series to be overshadowed by a spin-off.

The result is a muddled mess. Sitting between John Wick 3 and 4, this tale of a female assassin seeking revenge does have flashes of the kind of scenes we have come to expect from the series. Yet, where it falls down is that some sequences don’t seem to fit with what has happened previously. Characters come and you wait patiently for them to reappear, but they never do, most notably a fellow “ballerina” who is a close friend of Eve, who simply vanishes with the explanation that she wasn’t up to scratch.

If you can ignore the messy storyline that has obviously been changed by the additional scenes and re-editing, the action is what you would expect from the series. Some of the fights are as brutal and as full-on as you get from the other movies, including a brilliant use of a flamethrower and a water hose. If you can overlook the nonsense that leads to these scenes, then you will be satisfied with the set pieces.

The reason that John Wick works so well is that we know the fights are being performed by its star, Keanu Reeves. Taking on the role of Eve, Ana De Armas is the female equivalent, and she delivers the same energy and stunt performance as her male counterpart. In addition to being physically excellent, she carries the film brilliantly as a strong lead. She proved herself in the brief appearance in No Time to Die, and so if she can’t be Bond, she can be the female John Wick.

Alongside her, John Wick regulars Ian McShane and Lance Reddick (in his last film) pop up as does Angelica Huston, sporting a Russian accent and smoking a cigar, although she is given little else to do. Gabriel Byrne is the villain of the piece and seems to relish the chance to chew some of the scenery, and Reeves appears briefly and gets to do some Wick action. Walking Dead star Norman Reedus also appears, but he is one of the characters who seems to have been altered. Yet this is De Armas’s movie, and she is impressive.

Ballerina has fortunately avoided killing off the series, thanks to the lead and the set pieces, but it’s a disappointing entry in an otherwise terrific series. If there is to be another story, it has to be stronger in the script department and don’t just rely on the action.

3 out of 5

Director: Len Wiseman

Starring: Ana De Armas, Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Anne Parillaud, Sharon Duncan-Brewster

Written by: Shay Hatton and (based on the characters created) Derek Kolstad

Running Time: 124 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 6th June 2025