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Is it worth re-watching Ballerina, the John Wick spin-off with Ana de Armas?
Actress Ana de Armas plays a vengeful ballerina in Ballerina, a spin-off of the John Wick saga, co-starring Keanu Reeves. Described as sexy and dangerous, the film is available on VOD since October 2025. But does it live up to the franchise’s other highly successful instalments?
By Violaine Schütz.
Actress Ana de Armas is carving out a prominent place for herself in Hollywood. With remarkable ease, she moves between deep and action roles. We saw her don a blonde wig as the tormented Marilyn Monroe in Blonde, and she was just as convincing as a glamorous Bond girl with diamond-studded stilettos in No Time to Die (2021).
From Bond girl to lead character in action film Ballerina
From her dazzling, badass fight scene in the latest James Bond film No Time to Die (2021) to her enigmatic CIA agent role in Ghosted (2023) alongside Chris Evans, Ana de Armas seems more determined than ever to specialise in action movies.
Truth is, the actress excels in this register. She shines in the spin-off of the blockbuster franchise John Wick, in which Keanu Reeves has been starring since 2014. This new instalment gives the Cuban-Spanish actress a deeper dive into the action genre, a realm she’s already entered with style.
In Ballerina, the badass Ana de Armas takes down her numerous enemies one by one using flamethrowers, a wide range of weapons, or simply her fists. Her motto? “Fight like a girl“, which sometimes means going straight for her attackers’ most sensitive parts.
Ballerina, a film true to the spirit of John Wick
Turned into a tattooed, slightly gothic avenging protagonist hunting down those responsible for her father’s death, the young woman, trained both as a ballerina and as a hitwoman by the Ruska Roma crime organisation, firmly establishes herself as the new face of action cinema. In doing so, she follows in the footsteps of Charlize Theron and Uma Thurman, helping to redefine the genre from a female perspective.
However, Ballerina, which hit theatres last June 2025 and is available now on VOD, is not quite the sexy, dangerous feature Ana de Armas teased in the columns of Collider. While it draws on the signature elements of the John Wick universe, like the choreographed fight scenes, these moments lack the spectacular precision seen in the franchise’s previous films.
Keanu Reeves returns to the John Wick universe
Another issue? The far-fetched script, which could fit on the back of a napkin. Ana de Armas plays Eve Macarro, a dancer out for revenge after her father’s murder. But we never truly gain insight into the psyche of the many characters involved, even though the film attempts to explore their wounds through a few and rather kitschy sequences.
What remains is the impressive cast, led by Ana de Armas and featuring a brief appearance by Keanu Reeves, especially in one fight scene. Set during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), Ballerina rewinds the clock to an earlier moment in the life of the hitman played by Keanu Reeves. That’s when he crosses paths with Eve Macarro, a young woman from the Ruska Roma…
The cast also includes the great Anjelica Huston, Norman Reedus, Anne Parillaud (Nikita) and the charismatic Gabriel Byrne as the villain. But director Len Wiseman (Underworld, 2003–2011), who takes over from Chad Stahelski – the man behind the first four John Wick films – struggles to lead this star-studded cast in any clear direction…
Ballerina (2025) by Len Wiseman, available on Canal VOD.
