During the late ’90s, I found myself myself hanging out at a ballet school. I was in the film department at the art college, but I often ran into the ballerinas as they pranced all around the campus. One thing that I remember is how the ballerinas were injured a lot. As Nutcracker training season went into overdrive, it wasn’t unusual to see a few girls hobbling around on crutches hoping to recover enough to play a fairy or rat in the pre-Christmas productions. If you told me that the ballet school was also teaching these young women how to be international assassins, I wouldn’t doubt you. It was a very strenuous program. Why wouldn’t the teachers lump killing people with your bare hands into the class load? From the World of John Wick: Ballerina is about a world where the Nutcracker is taught along with kill shots.
When the last James Bond flick No Time To Die arrived in 2021, I was surprised when Ana de Armas popped up as CIA agent Paloma when Bond sneaks into Cuba. She really handled her stunt scenes well. I wanted to see more of her in action films. It’s a shame that James Bond folks have never done their long-rumored spin-off movie. The good news is that someone else had plans for her and that someone was Chad Stahelski, the director/producer of the John Wick franchise. He not only brought her into his cinematic universe, but made her the star of From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. Ana de Armas fits into the hyper violent world where assassins roam freely.
Eve Macarro (Blonde‘s Ana de Armas) is born into a forbidden family of assassins. Her father is part of the Ruska Roma and her mom is part of the rival Cult. This “house divided” leads to trouble from the outside when The Chancellor (The Usual Suspect‘s Gabriel Byrne) and his Cult goons arrive in the middle of the night to take out her dad and bring Eve back to her “real” family. However she is rescued by Winston Scott (Deadwood‘s Ian McShane) who brings her to the Ruska Roma. The small girl agrees to enroll in a ballet school run by the Director (The Addams Family‘s Anjelica Huston). Not only is she trained to dance, but kill. The program is intense, but they see she has that one thing they need – the ability to kill because of the way her father was taken out. While her first mission is a bit bumpy, she is seen as a star pupil. However her need for revenge builds when during a mission she encounter the same mark as the men who killed her father. She’s told she’s not allowed to go after the Cultists because of a truce. But she won’t back down. Eventually this leads to a massive fight in Prague that involves a flamethrower and the arrival of John Wick (Keanu Reeves).
Director Len Wiseman (Underworld) understands what’s expected in a John Wick movie. Lot of stunning locations and tons of bullets. This is a brilliantly sleek affair that works because Ana de Armas dominates the screen with her moves. Because she’s not big and burly, her Eve has to figure out unique ways to take out her opponents when she resorts to manual combat. She’s like one of the leading actresses in a Shaw Brothers Wuxia films. The film has the characters found in the other John Wick movies including Lance Reddick (The Wire) in his final performance as Charon. Keanu Reeves does show up for a memorable third act, but he doesn’t take over the film. This is all about Eve and her need to whack the Chancellor and destroy his operation. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina proves that Ana de Armas can rock an action film as the lead and pull off fighting with a flamethrower.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The colors on the screen pop as much as the action keeping it a visually interesting movie. The Audio is Dolby Atmos. There’s also an English discriptive Audio track if you want to be told about the flamethrower battle. There are dub tracks in French and Spanish Dolby 5.1 mixes. The Subtitles are in English, French and Spanish.
Blu-ray with the movie and bonus features.
Digital version code is also included.
The Making of Ballerina (10:54) has talk about how Eve us approached differently from the character of John Wick while still being part of John Wick’s world. Ana de Armas talks about how she and director Len Wiseman worked together for a year before the production started. She had to learn a lot of action skills for the role.
Building A Frozen Underworld (6:09) has them bringing snow into the action in Prague. There’s talk of how they constructed the ice-covered nightclub.
The Art of Action (11:09) gives attention to the teams behind the stunts, fight choreography, and weapons. How do they keep upping the visual game after doing so much already in the John Wick universe. The answer is easy: Flamethrower! We also see Ana and Keanu practicing their big fight scene in the gym and on the set.
Deleted & Extended Scenes (29:49) has her smoking on a balcony, more gun training, extended ice nightclub fight footage, the tavern fight, more flamethrower and another John Wick scene.
Theatrical Trailer (2:25) introduces us to the character of Eve Macarro.
Lionsgate presents From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina. Directed Len Wiseman. Screenplay by Shay Hatten. Starring Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane & Keanu Reeves. Running Time: 125 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: September 9, 2025.
FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA is now available on Digital, 4K UHD and Blu-ray™!
Additional info:
Official Site: https://johnwick.movie/film/ballerina
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FSwsrFpkbw
Publicity Materials: https://www.lionsgatepublicity.com/theatrical/ballerina
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