Parents' Guide to They Will Kill You

This kind of nonstop, endless-fighting action movie has become increasingly common in a post-John Wick world, but Beetz brings fresh blood to the genre, as does the movie's funny, fantastical story. They Will Kill You opens with a prologue that may or may not have been necessary, but it underlines the urgency of Asia's mission, as well as the crushing guilt that helps drive her. From there, things unfold at just the right speed, with subtle hints of threat giving way to actual threat. Asia's initial victory is extremely satisfying, especially a moment in which she shakes off the effects of chloroform—and takes out an enemy—by biting into a live electrical cord.

But while some of the plot twists are genuinely surprising, others are a bit too telegraphed. Flashbacks are structured in a way that's a bit too cutesy (and too Tarantino-y). Plus, the idea that the building has various themes for every floor (the ninth, top floor is not somewhere you'd want to be) isn't really used to maximum effect (the way it was in, say, The Raid: Redemption and Dredd). But the movie keeps an emotional center in the relationship between the two sisters, who have shared trauma, and Beetz finds balance in her performance as a tireless warrior and as a protective sister. She's not just a machine; like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, she spends the movie barefoot, and she feels pain and suffers setbacks. Overall, it's Beetz who makes They Will Kill You worth the struggle.