‘Mantis’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - All Style, No Emotion

In Byun Sung-hyun's Kill Boksoon, Gil Boksoon (Jeon Do-yeon), a single mother and contract killer, tries to maintain a work-life balance. She kills people while also attempting to connect with her young daughter (Kim Si-a), who turns out to be a closeted lesbian. The drama arises not merely from the mother-daughter tension but also from the everyday realities of Boksoon's work. She faces ageist taunts and must constantly stay on her toes to outmaneuver potential replacements or friends who could turn into enemies in an instant if promised a brighter future. On top of all this, Kill Boksoon also incorporated a one-sided romance, powered by Sul Kyung-gu's melancholic expressions. With Mantis, director Lee Tae-sung expands this contract-killer universe. The movie functions both as a sequel, set after the events of the 2023 action thriller, and as a spin-off, focusing on a different character from the same world.

That character is Mantis or Han-ul (played by Im Si-wan). Like Boksoon, he's introduced while doing his job. During Boksoon's first fight, her opponent boasted about the virtues of his sword, while she simply grabbed a hammer she'd bought online that very day and charged at him with gleeful abandon. Here, the joke is that Han-ul's opponent keeps calling him "mosquito" and "grasshopper," unable to remember the M-word (Mantis, of course). This target isn't alone, though; other characters also struggle to recall Han-ul's professional moniker. But Han-ul is not a bumbling comic figure. He's highly competent and very good at his job. If Boksoon hadn't killed Kyun-gu's Cha Min-kyu in Kill Boksoon, Han-ul and Jae-yi (Park Gyu-young) would likely have had a successful career. Who is Jae-yi, you ask? She's another contract killer, but one who runs her own organization (yes, even assassins have startups). And before you ask: yes, Jae-yi and Han-ul like each other, and yes, they keep their feelings to themselves. That should create plenty of romantic tension, yet oddly, the film never really delivers on that potential.

Mantis, in theory, has plenty of dramatic weight. It fans the flames of tension between lovers and clients, bosses and employees, teachers and students. What if the person who taught you everything about your field suddenly told you you're not talented? What if your boss plays favorites and treats everyone else with contempt? What if the person you admire ends up driving a wedge between you and your crush? What if your crush loves someone else? What if you're faced with the choice to kill your own teacher? The fact that I'm asking these questions suggests that Mantis should be bursting with emotional intensity. Unfortunately, all that narrative pressure stays on the paper. Tae-sung can't translate it into genuine screen drama — we're asked to care about Han-ul and Jae-yi simply because they're front and center. Even their teammates feel disposable, as if they exist only to orbit the leads rather than live as their own characters. Tae-sung's visual style suits the action well: the fights are shot with exhilarating choreography and dynamic camera work. But that same energy disappears during conversations. The director finds clever ways to film combat but shows little inventive flair in dialogue-driven scenes. You can see the sadness and the conflicting emotions, but you don't feel them. In the end, Mantis is stylish and competently made, yet curiously impersonal. It looks cool and feels polished, but it keeps the viewer at arm's length instead of drawing them into its world or rendering its characters' emotions palpable.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times