Thanks to the manner in which the fourth film concluded, we appeared to find the end of the John Wick series. However, given the biggity bucks the franchise made over that quartet of flicks, those who owned the property figured out ways to extend the Wick universe.

The first Wick spinoff came from a prequel TV series called The Continental that debuted in 2023 a few months after Chapter 4 made it to screens. For a theatrical Wick-related effort, though, fans needed to wait for 2025’s Ballerina.

Set between 2019’s Chapter 3 and 2023’s Chapter 4, Ballerina introduces us to Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas). The child of assassins, she receives training as both a dancer and an elite killer.

When attacked by a member of a secret cult, Eve kills the assailant. Because this person enjoyed connections to important people, this places a target on Eve’s head and means she must battle to survive.

As mentioned, Ballerina exists in time between the third and fourth Wick movies. This feels less like a vital creative choice and more a decision made to allow Wick himself (Keanu Reeves) to appear in the flick.

Part of me thinks this revelation feels spoilery, but the trailers show Reeves, the published credits include Reeves and the disc art to your left prominently features Reeves. So if you want to accuse anyone of spoilers, aim your wrath at Lionsgate, not me.

I won’t spill any more beans related to Reeves’ time in Ballerina other than to opine that the movie didn’t need him – not in terms of its narrative, at least. Clearly Wick becomes part of this story solely to stimulate ticket sales.

Ironically, this didn’t work. Each of the four Wick movies made sizable profits, as even the weakest of the bunch – the 2014 debut – still earned about three and a half times its modest budget.

Ballerina didn’t quite flop, but it lost money. With a budget of $90 million, its $137 million worldwide gross means it couldn’t veer into the black, even with the added carrot of Reeves’ presence.

This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll never get Ballerina 2, but it makes a sequel much less likely. I can’t claim I’ll mourn the absence of another Eve Macarro adventure, however, as this one seems pretty forgettable.

Admittedly, I never loved the Wick franchise. Though I thought the first movie – the only one with an organic narrative – worked pretty well, the subsequent three came across as little more than relentless action in search of narrative and character threads.

Which happens with Ballerina to a degree, though it definitely attempts an actual narrative much more than any of the Wicks. Even the 2014 original film basically existed as a simple revenge drama, whereas Ballerina stretches a bit more beyond that.

Actually, it delivers another story of vengeance, as Eve’s quest to take down the folks who murdered her dad (David Castañeda) during her childhood (Victoria Comte) delivers the primary thread. However, we also get Eve’s “origin story” and see what brought her to her current place, whereas we only learn of Wick’s past in flashbacks and allusions.

In theory, this makes Ballerina a more well-rounded and complete movie than any of the Wicks. And maybe it is.

But it still doesn’t become satisfying, as even with the backstory, Eve never turns into a particularly interesting character. Granted, Wick seems even more basic, but Reeves pulls off his role in a bigger and badder way.

I think de Armas displays talent but I don’t know if she boasts the charisma to ever become a real movie star. She does well in secondary parts and even pulled off a small role as a skilled operative in 2021’s Bond adventure No Time to Die so well that many viewers wanted to see that character get her own movie.

Which occurs via Ballerina in a way. Of course, de Armas doesn’t literally play the same part as in the Bond movie, but she portrays another action hero so Eve seems close enough.

Perhaps de Armas works well in small doses and her Bond role became interesting because she neither needed to carry the movie nor spend much time on screen. Or maybe the Bond people just create better movies than the Wick producers can and a flick from the former would turn de Armas into a compelling action hero.

Whatever the case, Eve feels like a less than engaging lead. De Armas does fine in the part but simply can’t create the impression of a charismatic combatant.

Even with a stronger lead actor/character, Ballerina would falter because it remains another action movie without much else to it. Despite the attempts to create the necessary beats, these don’t land too much of the time.

Many of the film’s action beats feel perfunctory. The story seems to exist to give the filmmakers chances to stage fights rather than as an entity in its own right.

I do think a few of these fare pretty well, especially when the movie gets to the frigid Austrain village of Hallstatt toward the end. For a while, the flick kicks into higher gear and shows potential.

However, Ballerina can’t maintain this elevation and it goes back to a less than dynamic tone before long. We get a sporadically entertaining adventure and nothing more.

Ballerina appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Expect a terrific Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness worked well. Virtually no issues with softness materialized, so the movie boasted positive accuracy and delineation.

The image lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also remained absent.

Unsurprisingly, the film’s palette favored a definite orange and teal vibe, though reds, chilly blues and purples emerged as well. The disc replicated the colors as intended, and HDR gave the tones a nice boost.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and clear. HDR added oomph to whites and contrast. This wound up as an excellent image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos audio added great dimensionality to the effort. With many action scenes, the mix used the various channels to create a lively, vivid soundscape.

This meant gunfire, explosions and mayhem brought out well-placed material that blended together in a nicely integrated way. The soundfield meshed together to deliver a well-rounded impression.

Audio quality also impressed, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music appeared vivid and full, with dynamic tones.

Effects fared best of all, as those elements seemed accurate and tight, with crisp highs and deep lows. As I expect from a movie of this sort, the soundtrack excelled.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical Atmos audio.

A native 4K project, the Dolby Vision UHD offered the standard improvements in terms of sharpness, colors and blacks. As good as the BD looked, the UHD topped it.'

As we move to extras, we find three featurettes. The Making of Ballerina runs 10 minutes, 54 seconds and offers notes from director Len Wiseman, producer Erica Lee and Chad Stahelski, fight coordinator Caleb Spillyards, executive producer/unit production manager Louise Rosner and actors Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane.

We get thoughts about the film’s development as well as story/characters, cast and performances, stunts and action. The reel mixes a few insights with the usual fluff.

Building a Frozen Underworld goes for six minutes, nine seconds. It involves Wiseman, Lee, de Armas, Reeves, Rosner, Stahelski, and production designer Phillip Ivey.

This one offers info about sets and locations. It becomes a decent discussion of these domains.

Next comes The Art of Action. During this 11-minute, nine-second reel, we hear from Stahelski, Wiseman, de Armas, Spillyards, Reeves, stunt actors Anisha Gibbs and Cara Chooljian, stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy, and actors Daniel Bernhardt and Norman Reedus.

As expected, the show examines the film’s violence, stunts, weapons and fights. We locate another moderately useful piece.

In addition to the movie’s trailer, we locate seven Deleted & Extended Scenes. These occupy a total of 29 minutes, 49 seconds.

Five of the seven provide elongated segments. Only the first – “Balcony with Male Student” (2:08) and seventh – “John Wick Receives a Call” (2:10) – provide legitimate cut scenes.

“Balcony” shows a short interaction between Eve and a former sparring partner as well as a quick flashback, while “Call” gives us a smidgen of exposition. Both feel unnecessary, especially “Call”, as Wick’s arrival fares better without this set-up.

As for the rest, they make fight scenes longer but not necessarily better. I do like the inclusion of an enormous – and nearly impervious to pain – bodyguard in “Full Minus II Fight Sequence” (10:29), but the other additions feel superfluous.

A second disc provides a Blu-ray copy of Ballerina. It comes with the same extras as the 4K UHD.

An attempt to extend the John Wick franchise, Ballerina doesn’t hit the mark. Although it tries hard to introduce a new franchise, the end result seems lackluster too much of the time. The 4K UHD comes with excellent picture and audio but supplements seem mediocre. Expect an erratic action extravaganza from this spinoff.