By Tyler Banark

If you ask me, 87North Productions has taken a dip in quality since 2022’s Bullet Train. I admire the studio for taking on an approach to action filmmaking in which former stuntmen get in the director’s chair. However, since Bullet Train, they haven’t had a movie that has gotten me giddy with excitement. The Fall Guy and Nobody 2 came close, but were barely passable; meanwhile, Love Hurts was a paper-thin mess. Now, David Leitch and company have Pretty Lethal, an action flick about five ballerinas escaping captivity after their bus broke down on their way to a performance in Budapest. That’s a simple enough synopsis, but it’s another abysmal bore that features a cast that was more of an annoyance than anything. 

Leading the film as the five ballerinas are Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Avantika, Iris Apatow, and Millicent Simmonds. While it’s nice to see five actresses such as them leading a film like this, their performances and characters were all over the place. Ziegler and Avantika are the only ones of them who had prior dance experience, and it showed, mostly in the former. Ziegler rose to fame from the reality series Dance Moms and as a recurring dancer in Sia’s music videos. While she has separated herself from those opportunities, she has proven much in her acting abilities. Whether it was her laziness in the HBO Max drama The Fallout or her extremely offensive performance in Sia’s directorial effort Music from 2020, Ziegler hasn’t given much intrigue. Now, in Pretty Lethal, she’s the face of the film and is stale as ever. I am convinced the sole purpose of her presence in this film is to show off her dancing abilities, and it just so happens that this is accompanied by one-dimensional acting.

As for the other four, unfortunately, Avantika, Apatow, and Condor are just as unamusing. Avantika continues to prove her brainless chops, which reminded me of her work in the Mean Girls musical movie as the comic relief of the ballerinas. Apatow isn’t given much, but what she does have isn’t much to wiggle around with. Condor plays the snobby rival to Ziegler’s character, and it’s the first role I’ve seen her show herself as an actor. As you can expect, she doesn’t prove much. Then, there’s Millicent Simmonds from the A Quiet Place franchise. It’s always a delight to see her on screen, and although she’s doing the best with what she can in the role, her character is written with little depth other than that she’s deaf. Lastly, Uma Thurman is the villain here and is given nothing interesting to work with. All of this to say, Pretty Lethal makes a case that it could have one of the worst ensembles of 2026!

Beyond the acting, there’s hardly anything redeemable on display in Pretty Lethal. The music is uninspiring, the sets and cinematography brutally dark, and Kate Freund’s script is filled with overbearing girlboss cliches and cheeky dialogue. The script called for a subplot involving Simmonds’ character and a singer striking up a romance, but it’s swept under the rug and not explored. In fact, if the script focused more on Simmonds’ character, it would’ve been much better. As for the action sequences, the movie finds some creativity in blending ballet dancing with fight choreography. One particular sequence in the second act exemplifies this and provides some entertainment. Even then, it’s still not enough to get this film above water.  

In a nutshell, Pretty Lethal had many opportunities to redeem itself but chose not to. It’s a movie filled with these kinds of moments. Yet, no attempts were made to fix its flaws. Jewson, Leitch, and company tried! They had a budget, they made a movie, but that’s about all they did. Pretty Lethal’s a testament to where 87North has been going and where they could be headed as a production company. Have they fallen off? Are they starting to become a two-film wonder? Whatever the case may be, Pretty Lethal didn’t work for me, and it likely won’t resonate much with anyone else. It can curtsy and bow all it wants, but it’s not much to send viewers pirouetting!

1.5 stars