Parents' Guide to Mantis

Unfortunately, this sequel of sorts isn't great. While the first third of Mantis is promising, it quickly falls apart as it meanders into its middle section. New director Lee Tae-sung struggles with tone, pacing, and integrating the world of Kill Boksoon in a more seamless fashion. While Boksoon had loads of stylistic action, great set pieces, and a main character audiences could immediately get behind and emotionally support (after all, she's a mother to a teenage girl), the main characters of Mantis simply feel like entitled brats, and the action-to-drama ratio is way too drama-heavy. The entire emotional core of Han-ul supposedly surrounds his childhood fascination with and love for Jae-yi, a character who does nothing the entire film to earn this admiration beyond being an "attractive" girl (his words).

To make matters worse, Lee doesn't sort out any of this confusion during the near two-hour-long film (which should be plenty of time), instead choosing to allow this film to slip into melodramatic sequences that don't make any sense emotionally because we're never given any reason to support or even like these main characters. By the end, what's the lesson? Is Jae-yi at fault and "to blame" because she continued to take or receive Han-ul's help when she should have spoken up instead? Or is the message that Han-ul is to blame because he continued to show favor for a woman who never asked for it or consented? Either way, this action thriller could have used way more action.