In the world of assassins meticulously crafted by the John Wick universe, Ballerina: A John Wick Story pirouettes into the spotlight with a blade in hand and vengeance in her heart. Directed by Len Wiseman and starring Ana de Armas, the film expands the mythology of this brutal yet poetic underworld, offering a chillingly beautiful tale of retribution, transformation, and trauma. Set between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, this spinoff sheds light on a character briefly seen but profoundly shaped by the deadly ballet of Wick’s world.
A Different Kind of Killer
Ana de Armas commands the screen as Rooney, a ballerina trained not just to dance but to kill with elegance and precision. After witnessing the murder of her family, Rooney becomes an instrument of revenge. Yet what distinguishes her journey is not just her ferocity, but the lingering humanity she fights to preserve in a world that demands its erasure.
Wiseman, known for his Underworld films, brings his stylized eye to the project, blending neon-lit melancholy with brutal close-quarters combat. While the DNA of John Wick is unmistakable—gun-fu choreography, stoic killers, cryptic rules—the female perspective carves out something more tender beneath the steel.
Expanding the Continental Universe
The High Table looms large, and familiar shadows flicker across the screen. Keanu Reeves returns in a significant cameo, reminding us that John Wick is still hunted and haunted. We also revisit The Ruska Roma, the mysterious crime syndicate introduced in Parabellum, where young girls are turned into lethal dancers. The ballet school serves as a chilling metaphor: a place of beauty and pain, discipline and domination.
The film also stars Anjelica Huston, reprising her role as The Director, a cold matriarchal figure whose mentorship blends cruelty and care. The presence of Gabriel Byrne as the villain adds a layer of Shakespearean menace—less a gangster, more a philosopher of violence.
The Choreography of Grief
At its core, Ballerina is a story of grief that moves like a dance—graceful, devastating, intimate. The action is stunning, yet never gratuitous. Each fight feels earned, a reflection of Rooney’s inner torment. The set pieces are operatic: a massacre in a snow-drenched forest, a ballet performance turned ambush, a final confrontation in a firelit cathedral.
What makes Ballerina resonate isn’t just the visceral thrills—it’s the tragedy behind every pull of the trigger. Rooney isn’t an indestructible action figure; she bleeds, mourns, questions. She is what John Wick was in the beginning—a person who has lost everything and finds herself through vengeance, only to wonder if there’s anything left of her soul when the killing stops.
A Promising New Chapter
With Ballerina, the John Wick franchise proves it can evolve. It’s not just about body counts and headshots—it’s about pain, precision, and perseverance. Rooney may not have Wick’s legacy (yet), but she has her own myth to forge. And in a world ruled by contracts and codes, her defiance feels like a quiet revolution.
Visually rich, emotionally resonant, and loaded with kinetic action, Ballerina pirouettes to the rhythm of death—and leaves an echo that lingers long after the curtain falls.
