Prime Video’s Pretty Lethal does not tiptoe in. It crashes through the doors in pointe shoes and dares you to keep up.

The story follows a group of American ballerinas traveling to Hungary for a major competition. But, before they even get close to the stage, everything that could go wrong goes wrong. Their flights are cancelled, and connections missed, their luggage disappears, and even their backup bus breaks down somewhere in the middle of nowhere. 

So, the girls and their coach start walking to find help. A couple of miles up the road, they land at the Teremok Inn, a castle-like hideaway deep in the wilderness, far from Budapest and even farther from safe. The inn is run by Devora Kasimer (Uma Thurman), a former ballerina turned mob leader. From there, things escalate quickly into a full-blown family war, with the dancers caught in the middle and forced to fight to survive.

Ballerinas, Blood, and Brutal Pointe Shoes: Pretty Lethal Delivers

The plot of Pretty Lethal is very familiar, and honestly, that is part of the fun. It watches like 3 Ninjas, but with ballerinas and way more blood. I also kept thinking about Abigail, which flirted with the idea of ballet as combat. Pretty Lethal does not flirt. It fully commits and then keeps going.

At its core, Pretty Lethal is a love letter to ballet and the brutality behind its beauty. Ballet is an art form built on endurance and pain as much as grace. The film does not shy away from that reality. Broken toes, missing toenails, relentless repetition. It reframes all of it as brutal strength to an art form that is highly underrated. 

At its center is Dance Mom’s Maddie Ziegler as Bones, an angst-riddled ballerina, who finally gets a role that lets her move like a weapon. This is where the movie really works, and the fight choreography is exactly what I wanted.

Turning Ballet Into a Full-On Fight Performance

It’s creative, it is kinetic, and it actually uses ballet in a way that feels intentional. Chassés build momentum into hits, fouetté turns, and petit saut jumps become evasive moves, à la seconde turns throw people off, and grand battements actually land with impact. It feels stylized in a fun, not gimmicky, way.

Starring alongside Ziegler are Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place), Lana Condor (To All The Boys Franchise), Avantika Vandanapu (Mean Girls Musical Movie), and Iris Apatow (Tell Me Lies). While they are very obviously not professional dancers, when it matters, they deliver on the emotion and the intensity, which keeps the film moving even when the illusion cracks slightly.

Pretty Lethal knows exactly what it is and doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not, and leans all the way in. The film is messy, familiar, and a lot of fun. And when it hits, it really hits.

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