Release Date: June 6, 2025
View Date: June 20, 2025
Rating: R
Overall Impression: If you’re a fan of John Wick, watch this.
This movie is a spin-off of the John Wick films focusing on Eve (the Ballerina) and her going from a small child, to training to be an assassin with the Ruska Romani after her fathers death. You get to see a lot of the background on the training they receive and how they learn, and subsequently progress, through the training and their final task to prove their ready.
My son and I are fans of the John Wick films, and when we found out about this we were super excited. But we found out by accident, while looking to see if they were going to be making a John Wick 5. This is, I feel, the biggest downfall of this film: the lack of promotional material. It didn’t do horrible in it’s opening weekends, but it could have done better.
Even ignoring the John Wick tie in, this is a really good movie. It’s full of John Wick style gun fights, fist fights, and serious ass kicking. There’s a good long section of the movie that reminds me of a Rammstein concert with the raw amount of fire being thrown. They did not hold back on the implied gore, and pain that’s being dished out by Eve.
If you have never seen any John Wick films, there are things referenced in here that are explained in the previous films. Such as who the Ruska Romani are, what are the rules of The Continental, etc. Ignoring this, it’s a great action film that would stand on it’s own even without the John Wick tie in.
One thing that initially I was disappointed in with the distinct lack of John Wick in here. If you’ve seen 4, you know what happens eventually, but I was hoping to see his involvement on a larger scale. After leaving the theatre I thought about it, and the time that he’s on the screen is very short, but highly impactful. You get to see John as the Baba Yaga and the fear/respect that he’s given by the different sides.
The movie is left open for a sequel, which I really hope they do. John was an amazing character in his own films. Having the opportunity to explore the rest of the world that’s been built from a different perspective and with a new character is something I really enjoyed. Potentially making more movies and opening it up to exploring the back story of all the different factions, characters, and businesses inside this world would be amazing.
They did the world justice, they did the spirit of John Wick justice, and overall this is a pretty good film. It’s by no means a cinematic masterpiece, but there are some really cool camera shots in there. I didn’t recognize any glaring plot holes, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Watch this for the gun fights and story, and enjoy it for what it is.
For fans of John Wick, this is a must see. For fans of action films who have never seen the John Wick films, I would recommend at least watching the first John Wick before watching this one, just so you can understand the world Eve is in and the importance of some of the rules that are assumed to be known. It will definitely help you appreciate the movie more and answer questions that you’ll inevitably have during the film