Ballerina
Lionsgate | Release Date: June 6, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 49 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
24
Negative:
3
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The AtlanticDavid SimsJun 11, 2025
Ballerina ultimately succeeds as a piece of junky fun, however, because it attempts to expand the Wick canon rather than deepen its titular protagonist. Read full review
60
NMEJames MottramJun 9, 2025
Well made, but instantly forgettable. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 6, 2025
The pleasures of Ballerina are both blunt and fleeting; you’re not going to remember the plot—or any of the performances, perhaps save one—five minutes after the end credits role. But the picture’s cartoonish brutality is cathartic. Read full review
60
Time OutHelen O'HaraJun 5, 2025
Happily, it emerges at last with enough inventive action to stand alongside its murderous predecessors, and makes Ana de Armas into a likeable assassin hero – a phrase that makes more sense in her killer-filled world than our own. Read full review
60
The New YorkerRichard BrodyJun 5, 2025
Ballerina—like the four John Wick films that it’s spun off from—is, strangely, far better at story than at action. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonJun 5, 2025
The Oscar nominee gives her physical all to the movie and, as a thank you, Ballerina lets her stay mostly silent so its leaden lines don’t weigh down her performance. Fortunately, De Armas has expressive eyes. Read full review
60
EmpireAmon WarmannJun 4, 2025
The story is a bit slight, but it’s fun to watch Ana de Armas punch, shoot, stab and blast everything and everyone in her way. A Wick-edly entertaining addition to one of cinema’s best action franchises. Read full review
60
LooperDominic GriffinJun 4, 2025
For someone enamored with the Wick-verse who just wants a new fix from that world, Ballerina is an unequivocal success. Ana de Armas holds her own as Eve Macarro, a dancer turned assassin trained by the same family that made John Wick such a violent threat. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanJun 4, 2025
Ballerina is a worthy entry in the “John Wick” canon, though I say that as someone who doesn’t think the “John Wick” canon is all that. By the end, Ana de Armas has proved that fighting like a girl and fighting like a guy need not be appreciably different, especially if they’re all fighting like a video game. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 4, 2025
Four John Wick films with Keanu fetishising his guns and sporting his increasingly werewolfy facial hair have been increasingly heavy going but now de Armas mixes things up and she is a smart screen presence. As for the ballet, the emphasis is on Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake; nothing wrong with that, of course, but if the Ballerina sub-franchise continues, let’s hope that different works are chosen and we see de Armas actually getting out there on stage in a tutu as opposed to simply racking up the kills. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyJun 4, 2025
It does, in its DNA, certainly feel like a part of the Wickiverse, even if Reeves’s inevitable cameo feels forced. And while it doesn’t add much depth to the world, it at least gives credence to the amusing suggestion that these films do, in fact, take place in an alternate dimension where every person on the planet is a professional assassin. Read full review
60
Screen RantRachel LaBonteJun 4, 2025
Her first outing is largely a rush of violent, thrilling action, entertainingly served up for the big screen, but it isn't without its problems. I just hope that if this killer gets to dance again, she's better served by a more streamlined narrative. Read full review
58
Paste MagazineRory DohertyJun 6, 2025
The pulse-pounding, gag-heavy climax of Ballerina, meanwhile, attempts to cover up the fact that the film is only truly redeemable in the action-laden third act, after a clumsy and disjointed 70 minutes of paper thin revenge plot theatrics, growled out by actors of an embarrassingly high pedigree. Read full review
58
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerJun 4, 2025
Eve’s backstory proves relatively trite, and the character is given nothing to connect with before or after she sets off on her quest. Read full review
58
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferJun 4, 2025
Ballerina is passable as a continuation of “John Wick” mythology. However, it’s not strong enough to organically generate comparable enthusiasm for continued storytelling with this character. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyJordan HoffmanJun 4, 2025
Like dining at Burger King, it's undeniably enjoyable, but may leave you with a queasy feeling when it's all over. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 9, 2025
Too bad “Ballerina” drops the ball. Despite being led by an actress who once took on the role of Marilyn Monroe, it’s a much less attractive movie — downright ugly sometimes. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithJun 5, 2025
The movie is like a two-hour trailer, with one viscerally intense fight scene following another, filmed as usual for the series in long, fluid takes to maximize the wow factor. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 5, 2025
The early scenes in this wacky place high in the mountains are the best part of “Ballerina” — they actually contain deft surprises and even a glimmer of humor, which is hardly something we expect in a John Wick film. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 4, 2025
Action fans should savour the spectacularly violent set pieces, but a bland villain and an underwhelming narrative ultimately prove even more lethal than de Armas’s fighting skills. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaJun 4, 2025
Sure, it's a lot of fun watching beautiful assassin Ana de Armas pick up a flamethrower and burn some dudes to a crisp, but a film featuring such an exciting concept shouldn't be this forgettable. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 4, 2025
At its best, this tale of a young female assassin seeking vengeance and wreaking havoc is one more chance to see expertly choreographed mayhem. At its worst, it plays like a Wick-ipedia sub-entry ambitiously pumped up to main-event status. Let’s just say the balance tilts toward the latter more than you’d like. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineJustin ClarkJun 4, 2025
Sans a mythology of its own, or any substantive ties into where the John Wick films go chronologically after this, Ballerina is just another 87Eleven joint. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJun 5, 2025
Directed, with workmanlike efficiency, by Len Wiseman, “Ballerina” is at once insultingly facile and infuriatingly obtuse, its unmodulated tumult leaving little room for nuance or personality. Read full review
More From This Movie

59 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 71 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL