When/if anyone talks aboutThe Mother, it’ll be to sing Jennifer Lopez’s praises as an action star. She’s done it before, though her last sincere shoot-em-up was 2013’sParker. Lopez is enough of a draw for an audience to catch her recent Netflix offering, but she’s the only one the film has. J.Lo could do better than this dreary retread of a dozen other stories.
Director Niki Caro is best known for herill-fated 2020 remake ofMulan, but her early-2000s filmsWhale RiderandNorth Countryare outstanding personal dramas. Screenwriters Misha Green (Lovecraft County),Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton), and Peter Craig (The Batman) bring a tremendous amount of pedigree toThe Mother. It’s tough to see any of this excellent creative team’s talents on display here.
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Jennifer Lopez stars as the titular unnamed mother, aformer US Army sniperwho turned to a life of crime after leaving the service. She spent years with a pair of arms dealers, one of whom impregnated her. After discovering that her lovers/coworkers sold more than guns, the expecting mother turned to the FBI for protection. Her partners, Hector and Adrian, will be sending wave after wave of assassins to put her down. After barely surviving the first attack, the mother must give up her daughter to ensure her safety. The mother spends 12 years living off the land in Alaska before she’s informed that her daughter, an oblivious, happy pre-teen named Zoe, is in trouble. One of her old associates captures her kid, so she’ll have to team up withthe friendly FBI agentCruise to rescue her.
This aspect of the narrative is to be expected, which is why it’s surprising when it barely lasts the first hour. Zoe is safely back in her mother’s custody by the end of the first act. The second act forces the mother and daughter to take shelter in the aforementioned Alaskan safe house. While there, Lopez enrolls young Zoe inher personal assassin crash course. She’ll learn to shoot, drive, run, fight, and kill from a woman who still openly denies that they’re related. Zoe figures out her mother’s identity within six hours of seeing her, but their connection is strenuous at best. Soon enough, more criminals come to collect Zoe, and her mother must find a way to save both of their lives.
There’s nothing in the premise of this film that will excite an audience. It’s been done before. Everyone’s seen a version of the “momma bear protects her cub” action movie. Its execution isn’t anything new either, though it settles on an extremely obvious wolf metaphor instead of bears. The only reason to watchThe Motheris to see how Jenny from the Block handles the role. She’s very convincing as a broken person struggling to find common ground with the child she never got to raise. She’s a solid performer in the action scenes, which are closer in presentation to aBournefilm than they are toanything in theWickfamily. Lopez elevates the character, but she’s not given much to work with. Ditto Joseph Fiennes and Gael Garcia Bernal as the film’s villains. Omari Hardwick ofPowerfame and relative newcomer Lucy Paez as Cruise and Zoe are the only likable characters in the feature.The Mothertakes a pretty dour view of almost everything it depicts.
The title character goes through a lot of pain, but it’s hard to feel much sympathy for her. She makes one good point about being left behind after the war, but she’s otherwise the architect of most of her suffering. She was an elite soldier who went on to be a tower guard at Guantánamo Bay before settling into the life of a high-profile weapons trafficker. John Wickand Jason Bourne couldnever be described as saints, but contract killing and espionage are at least the fun kinds of evil. Neither of them has “concentration camp sniper” on their resume. Lopez never grows or changes. There’s one moment in which she’s openly torturing a former coworker, and her FBI friend questions her methods, only to be shut down with another line about saving Zoe. It’s the ladies' version of an unforgivable monster doing whatever it takes tosave the only human beingshe cares about. It’s not any less unpleasant when she does it.
The Motheris the latest in a long line of American action movies that simultaneously believe that the only suitable motivation is a close relative and that anything is permissible as long as it’s in service of that goal. There’s almost nothing fun aboutThe Mother.It’s a fantasy for the type of parent that daydreams about how violent they’d get to bein aTakenscenario. Maybe there’s something appealing about a woman living out that fantasy. Maybe it’s enough to put Jennifer Lopez in the starring role. Either way, there will never be a shortage of movies likeThe Mother. Fans of watching J.Lo kill people will find something to enjoy. Everyone else will be safe waiting a few months for another identical action film with someone else in the lead role. This kid was better off orphaned.
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The Mother
The Mother is a Netflix movie directed by Niki Caro, based on a story drafted by Misha Green, and stars Jennifer Lopez. Lopez stars as a former assassin on the run who comes out of hiding to save the daughter she had given away years prior. The film was released in May 2023.
