Pretty Lethal Review

Pretty Lethal is an Amazon Prime exclusive, produced by 87North Productions, the company behind films like Nobody and Bullet Train.

A dysfunctional ballet troupe is set to compete in an international competition in Budapest. Their journey to the Hungarian capital takes a detour because of a diverted flight and a broken-down bus. When the troupe go to a bar for help, they find it’s a front for criminals, and the young women have to use their ballet skills to fight and survive.

Pretty Lethal has come up at the same time as two other female-led actioners: the sequel to Ready or Not and They Will Kill You. Those films were proud B-Movies that were excessively violent. Pretty Lethal was a grittier film that came across as a straight-to-DVD film, or in its case, a straight-to-streaming film.

Pretty Lethal had a simple high-concept: ballerina action heroes. It was a film that showed a group of young women who use their ballet skills to fight off gangsters. As someone who has a soft spot for female-led action films, 87North Productions has a solid reputation. When the film did show ballet-inspired action scenes, it did deliver. The ballerinas used their equipment, such as Stanley knives and scissors, as weapons and combined them with their dancing skills, turning them into elegant angels of death. This was an action film where adversity forced a dysfunctional group to work together as a team.

The ballerinas were played by up-and-coming young actors. There was Maddie Ziegler, who started her career as a dancer: she has been in many Sia music videos. Her character acted as the defo leader, Bones. Lana Condor was the oldest actress in the troupe, but had a young appearance. She was the bitchy rich girl whose parents were bankrolling the troupe, and she had a rivalry with Ziegler’s character, since they were competing to be the lead dancer. Their dynamic was fuelled by their different personalities since Ziegler was poor and direct, and Condor was rich and passive-aggressive.

The other pairing in the troupe was made up of sisters Zoe (Iris Apatow) and Chloe (Millicent Simmonds). Their little arc was learning to trust each other because Zoe was too protective of her deaf sister. And finally, there was Grace, played by Avantika. Avantika played her role as she did with Karen in Mean Girls, being nice but ditzy. In Pretty Lethal, Avantika played a Christian character who had to commit some un-Christian actions.

Pretty Lethal did acknowledge its own silliness. There was tongue-in-cheek humour like a smash cut to when the troupe had to wear the only dry clothes they had. However, the film had a meanness to it. The action was more gruesome since throats were slit, and one man had his fingers blown off by a shotgun. Some moments were more uncomfortable to view. One character was shot in the head, and their body was going to be disposed of as if it were in a gritty crime thriller, and one of the dancers was nearly tortured. It was jagging for a light action film.

The setting was less glamorous than in Ready or Not 2 or They Will Kill You. Most of the film took place in a rundown bar, adding to the gritty look of the film. The filmmakers made out that Hungary was a hellhole, similar to what Eli Roth did to Slovakia.

Pretty Lethal was a thin film with plot and characters, but it was a lean 88 minutes, and strong enough action to be a fun night in.