Mantis (2025) Movie Review

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Mantis – Movie Review

You know, after watching *Mantis*, I realized it’s less about *what* the assassins do and much more about the power struggles and the tense atmosphere surrounding them. The film really focuses on building that feeling of unease and competition, rather than detailed action sequences.

Director: Lee Tae-sung

Writer: Byun Sung-hyun, Lee Tae-sung (Screenplay)

Cast

  • Yim Si-wan (Squid Game)
  • Park Gyuyoung
  • Jo Woo-jin (The Match)
  • Choi Hyun-wook

Mantis, a highly skilled assassin, comes out of retirement and finds himself working alongside his former trainee, Jae-yi, and Dok-go, a legendary killer who now leads the organization.

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Mantis follows the story of a highly skilled assassin, Mantis Han-ul (played by Si-wan), who comes out of retirement. He teams up with his former trainee, Jae-yi (Gyugoung), and a retired killer named Dok-go (Woo-jin). The three find themselves facing a power shift within their organization, as new fighters are being brought in to take over their jobs.

Han-ul won’t allow Jae-yi to be forced out of the company, so he confronts the leaders. This leads him to start his own team, hoping to give Jae-yi an opportunity to showcase her skills and pursue the projects he envisions, with the people he wants working alongside him.

Verdict on Mantis

Recap

As a total cinema fan, I was hooked by this film’s premise! It’s about a legendary hitman who decides he wants back in the game, only to find everything’s different now. He’s basically got to prove he’s still got it, and in doing so, he starts shaking things up within the organization – so much so that it threatens to unravel everything they’ve built. It’s a really compelling setup!

Best Parts

The film builds a world reminiscent of the *John Wick* universe, complete with a network of assassins who operate by a specific code. Strong acting helps make the characters’ motivations believable, and the underlying themes of power and control add another layer of intrigue.

Worst Parts

It’s a letdown that a film about assassins doesn’t have more action. The movie spends more time exploring the relationships between the characters than showing how they actually work as assassins.

Final Thoughts – Mantis lacks the action expected from an assassin world.

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2025-09-26 11:38