Pretty Lethal (2026)

Pretty Lethal (2026)

A US-British film screened at the South by Southwest festival ahead of a global release on Prime Video.

Yet another film about ballet dancers. There was Suspiria (1977) and its 2018 remake; we’ve seen the excellent Black Swan (2010) and the rather lacklustre Abigail (2024).
So what is this fatal pirouette worth?

First of all, is it a feminist film? In any case, the screenplay is written by Kate Freund, the main characters are female, and the director is Vicky Jewson, an English screenwriter, producer and director.

According to Wikipedia, Jewson was born in Oxford, where she still lives. She became interested in filmmaking as a child and took a five-day course with the Oxford Film and Video Makers at the age of 16. She runs the production company Jewson Film with producer Rupert Whitaker, who has also become her partner.

We know that in this film, we’ll see graceful movements, but above all girls who can walk on their tiptoes, and it always pains me just to watch it, whilst at the same time feeling immense admiration for this talent, which is undoubtedly painful. Because it’s all hard work, and I imagine their feet must often end up a right mess.

Another question that springs to mind is: are we dealing with a close-knit group of dancers? Or are they rivals? Is it possible to have a group of girls where none of them causes trouble? Rest assured, we get the answer very quickly. Right from the very first scene!

When I saw the lead actress, Maddie Ziegler, I immediately thought of Cillian Murphy. It’s all in those piercing blue eyes! I wouldn’t be surprised if I discovered a family connection between the two. Maddie is a real dancer and that’s her main job. Otherwise, she’s also a model.

Right! I reckon you know this film is a bloodbath? No, if you thought it was going to be a romantic comedy, you might as well turn back now, because I think you’ve got the wrong cinema!

The film’s first real victim broke my heart. It’s the coolest, most soothing, adorable, friendly and level-headed person who gets taken out first.

There’s the famous kick in the balls, which is highlighted and considered THE solution when facing an attacker. Except that if he’s really dangerous, it can clearly make the situation worse!

The film’s title appears after 18 minutes and 18 seconds. No, it’s not a joke! Just as the horror of the hopeless situation hits us like a punch in the face.

The manager of this sort of shabby hotel looks just like Uma Thurman! Actually… it really is her!!! I was so completely taken aback to see her that I could hardly believe it. A good actress, but one who very often gets wasted in poor feature films.

“You’re a dancer and you’ve never made yourself throw up???” is a mind-boggling line!

Yet another film that paints a negative picture of an Eastern European country. As a result, Europeans will complain again and say that, once more, it’s always the nice Americans versus the bad guys from the rest of the world. They’ll obviously also criticise the fact that the team includes American women, but also an Indian woman, an Asian woman… and a deaf woman! So, a legitimate question: might the problem lie partly with the Europeans too? Especially if that’s all they see. It says a lot about their mindset as well! It’s time to change and move on, it seems to me. Reactionary, sexist white people need to change their tune.

This film is extremely brutal, but this violence has unfortunately become the norm in this genre of film today. There are repeated stabbings – not just to the body, but occasionally to the face as well – which have become very fashionable. There are scenes of torture. Yes, just because we’re used to seeing it doesn’t mean it isn’t there! And the humour is often very dark. In fact, what little good humour remains is drowned out by the sickening and the gore.

The film struggles to choose between seriousness and comedy, which causes it to lose its way and fail on both counts. It’s clearly not a horror comedy. No, it’s not easy to make excellent films like What We Do In The Shadows (2014), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Scream (1996), Zombieland (2009) or even Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022).

There’s a very good opening to this film, but everything else falls flat. It’s fun to see the crazy things people get up to on drugs, Gen Z’s discovery of a rotary dial phone, and those moments where dancing blends with fighting, making the choreography a bit more graceful.

Riddled with inconsistencies, here you really could say they’re taking the already brainwashed viewer for a fool. They think they can make the viewer swallow anything. The deaf girl can only communicate with her sister, and yet, when it suits everyone (director, screenwriter), everyone understands her. Once again, we see ordinary ballerinas turned martial arts pros managing to take on the most hardened criminals.

The touching moments at the end come too late. We’ll have lost interest long before then and it’ll go right over our heads. The end credits are nice too, but the music accompanying them is sampled from an 80s hit, ‘Rappers Delight’, and it’s a girl singing… but not rap. Times are certainly changing!

Criticising a film where there are only foreigners quickly makes you look like a racist. In this case, criticising a film created by women featuring women quickly makes you look like a sexist. What wouldn’t we do to defend a bad film under false pretences!

With this film, we’re once again tarnishing beautiful things: dance, ballet. In exactly the same way that we’re now making horror films featuring Walt Disney characters like Mickey, Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, etc., we’re truly living in a dreadful age.

There’s not much to be salvaged from this nonsense, which is a disgrace to cinema. It’s hard to laugh at the film. I found myself laughing at it instead, especially during the moments that were meant to be tear-jerking. I could go on slating it for hours, but Pretty Lethal has already wasted enough of my time as it is.

Completely unrealistic and pathetic, but thank goodness ridicule doesn’t kill… for now!

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