'Pretty Lethal' Review: Timothée Chalamet Doesn't Want Smoke With These Badass Ballerinas

Published Mar 19, 2026, 12:05 PM EDT

Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based critic, writer, and editor who has written about all forms of entertainment for Paste Magazine, Brightest Young Things, Flickchart, The Free Lance-Star, and more. Ross graduated from George Mason University with a focus in communications and journalism and a minor in film and video studies.

Ross is a Tomatometer-approved critic, a member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, and a member of the Critics Choice Association. He has loved movies ever since he saw Cinderella in the theater as a kid, he can quote 10 Things I Hate About You and Wet Hot American Summer from memory, and is fascinated by all things Georges Méliès and Charlie Chaplin.

‘Pretty Lethal’ Puts Five Ballerinas Into a Fight for Survival

Pretty Lethal introduces us fairly quickly to the five American ballerinas who are preparing for a major ballet competition in Budapest. Bones (Maddie Ziegler) is tough, having to prove herself as a poor girl in a rich girl’s sport. As her name implies, Princess (Lara Condor) is entitled and clashes with Bones constantly. Chloe (Millicent Simmonds) and Zoe (Iris Apatow) are sisters, but since Chloe is Deaf, she doesn’t appreciate it when Zoe treats her like a child, while Grace (Avantika) is religious and more of a rule follower than the rest of the group.

When their bus breaks down in Hungary, these ballerinas and their instructor, Ms. Thorna (Lydia Leonard), seek help at the Teremok Inn, which, in the coincidence of a lifetime, is owned by Devora Kasimer (Uma Thurman), a former ballerina who had her career cut short. One thing leads to another at the Teremok Inn, with its rough patrons and Devora’s associates, and eventually, Ms. Thorna is killed in front of the ballerinas. Obviously, the girls come to realize that help isn’t on its way and that this group of ballerinas will have to fight their way out if they want to live.

‘Pretty Lethal’ Relishes in the Fun of Its Own Concept

Pretty Lethal, for the most part, doesn’t worry too much about plot or story, and that’s probably for the best. The times when Pretty Lethal gets bogged down are when it offers more explanation than it needs to. There's far too much revealed about Devora’s goons than viewers possibly need to know, and Devora’s own past in the ballet world seems too fortuitous and unnecessary. All we really need to know is that it’s five ballerinas against a bunch of Hungarian thugs ready to kill, and that’s when Pretty Lethal is at its best.

Pretty Lethal is co-produced by David Leitch of John Wick, Nobody, and Bullet Train fame, and definitely has the DNA of those action films. Very often, these dancers are left in close quarters with limited options of defense at their disposal, forced to make do with whatever they can find to fight. In one particularly inspired choice, these ballerinas decide to stick a razor blade between their toes and utilize their dance moves to fight off their attackers. Many of these fights are blunt and full of big, wild moments that mostly carry the film, despite its fairly weak narrative.

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While Jewson does a solid job with the action sequences, the film's appearance leaves much to be desired. The Teremok Inn clearly used to be a place of glamour and beauty that has wasted into a dark, unremarkable bar, and while there are glimmers of what this place used to be, the movie mostly revolves around fights in dingy storage rooms or bland kitchens. For such a potentially stunning setting, it’s somewhat disappointing that the locale itself isn’t more eye-catching.

These Five Killer Ballerinas Are Having a Blast in 'Pretty Lethal'

Image via Prime Video

Beyond the enjoyable fight sequences, Pretty Lethal also assembles a remarkable cast of women who are clearly having a blast. Considering her dance background, Bones seems like a role made for Ziegler, and she makes the most of it. She’s no-nonsense in her attempts to lead this group to safety, and she’s an absolute badass throughout. The relationship between Apatow’s Zoe and Simmonds’ Chloe brings a nice bit of heart to the story. Simmonds gets to prove that she’s more than just the girl from the Quiet Place movies, while Apatow depicts the reality of how nightmarish such a scenario would be through Zoe's very understandable fear.

Princess probably fares the worst and is fairly one-note as the stuck-up one of the group, who, as one would expect, eventually opens up a bit more. Condor gets some decent moments of portraying her terror at the situation they’re in, but Princess is just not as intriguing as the rest of the crew. Much like she was in the 2024 musical version of Mean Girls, Avantika is an absolute scene-stealer with great comedic timing. Thurman is decent as the ballet version of Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, and it’s undeniably great to see her in a film full of great female action characters, considering her iconic role as The Bride in Kill Bill, but Pretty Lethal skids to a stop when it starts explaining the history of the Teremok, its patrons, and owner, and not even Thurman can escape that.

Pretty Lethal is at its best when it’s a straightforward film about bloody fights and survival. This isn’t the most complex concept, and when the movie tries to include unnecessary details, it stops the narrative dead in its tracks. Yet when these five tough badasses use their skills as dancers to fight wave after wave of enemies, Pretty Lethal is a pretty good time. This isn’t going to be the next John Wick, but it's certainly an enjoyable, often unexpectedly grisly action film and a solid way to spend 90 minutes.

Pretty Lethal premiered at the 2026 SXSW Festival. It comes to Prime Video on March 25.

Release Date March 25, 2026

Runtime 88 minutes

Director Vicky Jewson

Writers Kate Freund

Producers Kelly McCormick, Mike Karz, Piers Tempest, Bill Bindley

Cast

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Pros & Cons

• These five ballerinas are having a blast in this killer action film.
• Pretty Lethal is more brutal than one might expect.

• The more the script digs into plot and character histories, the more it drags the film down.
• Yet, it's hard not to wish that Pretty Lethal would have a bit more substance than it does.