The Mother – A Dull Action Thriller (Early Review)

The Mother is the newest Netflix actioner starring Jennifer Lopez in the titular role as The Mother. After fleeing from dangerous former colleagues and going into hiding for 12 years, a former solider/assassin (Lopez) returns to protect the estranged daughter she was forced to leave behind all those years ago. The film had a lot of things going for it, a solid revenge premise, a committed and deadly Lopez in the lead role, and a talented filmmaker in Niki Caro being in the director’s chair. Unfortunately it never really comes together and winds up being another highly disposable and beyond generic action thriller that viewers will inevitably forget the minute the credits start rolling. While Lopez and Caro are both very talented, the end result is a misfire that can’t help but feel bland and derivative of so many better films.

The biggest issue with The Mother is how it hardly ever even attempts to develop any type of connection between viewers and the characters or story in the midst of all its explosive action sequences. The plot is about as barebones as it gets and barely makes any effort to distinguish itself from the many films it will undoubtedly be compared to. It never elicits any kind of emotional investment and because of that, everything feels so weightless and low in stakes. A big part of that is the minimal character development which clearly was not a top priority or concern. The Mother understandably gets the most development and yet by the end, it’s still not that much but it takes forever to actually find that out. It doesn’t help that she’s given the most predictable backstory imaginable, one that feels copied and pasted from countless other films. Meanwhile, the film’s villains are hardly given anything to do and come across as bland and one-note. Adrian (Joseph Fiennes), the main villain, is one of the most forgettable villains in recent memory and lacks any sort of personality or menace despite Fiennes clearly trying his best.

Even from a technical side, there isn’t all that much to praise or compliment. Despite jumping from numerous locations all around the world, the film is so poorly and dimly lit that it becomes hard to decipher what’s going on while the editing is so rough that certain scenes feel awkward or out of place. Now a lot of these issues would be much easier to forgive if the action was any good, but sadly, that just wasn’t the case here. Every single action sequence is poorly stitched together and it’s hard to tell what’s going on half the time because of how many quick cuts are used. It’s sad since it is easy to tell that the actors and stuntpeople are doing incredible physical work in front of the camera, but viewers aren’t truly given a chance to appreciate it.

That being said, the film isn’t a complete disaster and thankfully has a few redeeming qualities that makes it a relatively harmless one. The main one being of course Lopez who is fully committed and kicks a lot of ass as the Mother. She might feel a bit miscast at times due to the writing and dialogue but as far as the action side of things go, she’s great and definitely proves she can sell an action thriller. Let’s just hope she’s given a much better one if she decides to dip her toe in the genre again. It’s also got a solid supporting cast featuring the likes of Bernal, Raci, and Omari Hardwick. None of them are given a ton to do but it’s nice to see them pop up and at least bring a little more to their characters. The film starts off pretty promising and wastes no time getting things going, but it just never really goes anywhere interesting once all its cards are on the table.

In the end, The Mother isn’t terrible but it is simply a dull which a lot of times can be worse. The film definitely had a lot of potential while it is nice to see Jennifer Lopez doing something different, the script just lets her down every step of the way. Niki Caro is a great director and has made several great films, but she may not have been the best fit for this material.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/