The Mother, 2023.
Directed by Niki Caro.
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, Gael García Bernal, Paul Raci, Lucy Paez, Fahim Fazli, Michael Karl Richards, Saif Mohsen, Yvonne Senat Jones, Link Baker, Jesse Garcia, and Edie Falco.
SYNOPSIS:
While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin comes out of hiding to protect her daughter she left earlier in life.
In what feels like a cross between standard assassin fare and an episode of Jerry Springer (RIP), the opening moments of director Niki Caro’s The Mother (appropriately releasing on Netflix in time for Mother’s Day) sees Jennifer Lopez’s unnamed titular mother character under investigation by federal authorities inquiring about the whereabouts of criminals Adrian and Hector (played by Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal) who she was brokering an arms deal between. The Mother is also pregnant, and the baby is potentially one of theirs.
This movie is consistently ludicrous and for the wrong reasons. After refusing to give any information, claiming that what Adrian and Hector are up to goes beyond a firearms deal, assassins storm the interrogation room picking off federal agents one by one, with Mother saving all but one before Adrian stabs her in the stomach, but not before she fights back, the building goes up in flames, and the film flashes forward to the baby safely born under distressing circumstances. Naturally, it is not safe for her to care for this child, but fortunately, the man she saved, Cruise (Omari Hardwick), confusingly feels indebted to her despite her being somewhat responsible for placing his life in danger in the first place andensures that Zoe (a name that the corny screenplay by Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig, and Misha Green emphasize means life) will go to a good family.
Of course, there is some resistance from Mother, who awkwardly uses her murder skills to justify being a suitable guardian. Following that, she lives off the grid for 12 years hunting in Alaska, and receives a picture of her daughter every year. Unsurprisingly, Adrian and Hector locate Zoe (played by Lucy Paez) to bring Mother out of hiding, sending her on a violent mission to protect her daughter at any cost.
Nothing is memorable about the globetrotting action sequences (such as a foot chase across Cuban streets that is smashed with cuts every half a second) or the generic villains with a predictable sinister ulterior motive involving children (that shockingly is dropped because the film has to focus on one girl and this specific mother-daughter dynamic). Once Mother is reunited with Zoe, she again goes off the grid, this time bizarrely chiding her daughter for being emotional towards animals while encouraging her to hunt and teaching her how to use firearms; plenty of questionable things, not always in the name of self-defense. Strangely enough, it also doesn’t matter who the father is or what Mother had with any of these men; it’s all just a series of contrivances for limp action.
To be fair, the idea is not bad; video games such as the recent God of War continuations have successfully dealt with violent parental figures who don’t know what else to teach their offspring and struggle to do right by them. However, The Mother is essentially a playbook for how not to do a similar story, as it lacks natural dialogue and a human element outside Jennifer Lopez’s physically gritty turn as a fierce protector.
Aside from a late action sequence in a snowfield that leads to a somewhat exciting one on one final battle, Jennifer Lopez is far and away the best element, but she is let down by a movie that is supremely terrible in every other aspect. The script alone is beyond saving and contains characters who do or say whatever pushes the plot forward rather than believably engaging with one another dramatically. Jennifer Lopez and Lucy Paez try to generate that connection, but The Mother is too emotionally inert for their efforts to mean anything. The mostly dull action doesn’t help anything.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
