A spin-off (sort of sequel) to the excellent ‘Kill Boksoon’, ‘Mantis’ is set in the same Korean underworld of assassins seen in the previous film. Whereas ‘Kill Boksoon’ focused on the more mature/elder assassins of the infamous killer alliance MK, ‘Mantis’ (rather than picking up Boksoon’s story) focuses on the younger, upstart contingent of the deadly killer world.
MK Entertainment, the shadowy assassin guild central to the first film, has been dismantled with the death of its CEO Cha Min-kyo (Sul Kyung-Gu) at the hands of Boksoon (Jeon Do-Yeon—who makes a fleeting appearance here!). Seeing a chance to cement his already considerable name, Han-ul/Mantis (Yim Si-Wan) decides to set up his own killers-for-hire organisation, the not-surprisingly monikered Mantis Company. Teaming up with a gang of fellow youthful killers, including his own MK alum and major crush Jae-yi (Park Gyu-Young), Mantis thinks he’s got the killer world licked. But slaying folks with double retractable scythes and an overabundance of (misplaced) confidence only gets you so far. Coupled with encroaching competition, broken allegiances with former mentors, and Jae-yi’s skills and aptitude for leadership now besting Mantis’s, he soon finds he may not be the best killer on the block.
Jettisoning the darker, grittier tone of the aged assassin focus of the first film, ‘Mantis’ (for better and worse—mainly worse!) is much more aimed at the younger generation. Certainly sleek, fast-moving, and buoyed by some fantastic fight action, the focus on the younger generation of killers isn’t anywhere near as exciting or as satisfying as the focus of ‘Kill Boksoon’. It’s a commendable approach to shift focus to a different generation of killers, but pacing issues and a gaggle of hard-to-warm-to characters (including Mantis himself) mean that, when the film isn’t erupting in bouts of crisply choreographed action, it suffers. There are also too many agencies vying for kill competition (and screen time), the feelings of both admiration and regret between Mantis and Jae-yi are frustratingly never fully explored, and while the fight action is good (and fairly copious), it is not as down-and-dirty gritty as it was in ‘Kill Boksoon’.
Proceedings often feel rushed and everything is presented to us as “wow, isn’t this cool?”, with Mantis (despite Yim Si-Wan’s best efforts) never really convincing as the best-of-the-best killer we’re supposed to think he is. However, Park Gyu-Young is more convincing as the equally deadly Jae-yi. She’s a formidable force (the film really should have just focused on her character) and her arc is much more interesting than that of the often-grating Mantis. First-time director Lee Tae-Seong certainly imbues the film with a slick style and, as mentioned, there is some stellar fight action on hand, in particular a one-on-one fight between Mantis and his former mentor. If the focus had solely been on the young guard taking on the old guard for control of an assassin empire, ‘Mantis’ may have been much more satisfying, but with too much focus on an over-confident younger generation posing and squabbling, ‘Mantis’ doesn’t have the bite it sorely needs.
