On May 12, Netflix released the action drama Mother, in which superstar Jennifer Lopez faces off against a squad of devious villains to protect her daughter. In the review below, we tell how the actress looks on the screen as a brutal killer and whether the film can boast of cool battle scenes.

“Mother” / The Mother

Genre thriller, action, drama
Director Niki Caro
In roles Jennifer Lopez, Omari Hardwick, Gael Garcia Bernal, Lucy Paez, Joseph Fiennes
Premiere Netflix
Graduation year 2023
Site IMDb

An unnamed ex-US Army woman who hooked up with the wrong guys, got pregnant, and is now an informant for the FBI in an arms-dealing case. After an unsuccessful attack by an ex-accomplice, the heroine gives birth to a girl, but as a result must give up the child in order not to expose her to danger.

The newborn will go to a good family that will be able to take care of her, and the heartbroken mother will go to the harsh snows of Alaska to escape radar and hunt deer in the snowy forests. 12 years pass, and the ghosts of the past catch up with the steadfast hermit. She is forced to step back on the warpath to protect the most precious thing left.

In recent years, Hollywood star, pop diva and businesswoman Jennifer Lopez prefers to act in unpretentious rom-coms (“Start at the beginning”, “First Meeting”), which can have admixtures of other genres, like the relatively recent “My Pirate Wedding”.

But “Mother” was positioned from the beginning as a serious action drama, with the 53-year-old star as the main shock force with minimal support from her husband (or a cameo Omari Hardwick from “Army of the Dead”).

And indeed, Lopez is in good shape, holds herself well in the frame and confidently portrays a warrior who is ready to do anything for the sake of her child. But this turns out to be catastrophically insufficient for the plot to look more or less believable and logical. Add to the weak script an unacceptably small amount of action (albeit qualitatively filmed), a protracted timeline – and you get almost 2 hours of meaningless narration.

It is not scary that the local scenario is shamelessly simple and secondary: at one time, at least Schwarzenegger and Statham saved daughters from scoundrels. However, despite the flashiness, “Mother” is not able to provide what is required of it in the first place – incendiary action, preferably in large quantities. It’s pathetic crumbs.

The tape cannot at least divert the attention of the viewer from his own inability.

Only a few scenes look really interesting. For example, the chase in Cuba, when J. Lo gets behind the wheel of an old Volga GAZ-21 to Latin music taken somewhere from the Fast and Furious soundtrack. A good dynamic is felt here, besides, the authors manage to use a funny associative montage in the climax.

At some point, the story turns into a “mother wants to teach” story. This part significantly slows down the development of the action. It is necessary in order to hopefully justify some points at the end.

The final battle looks clumsy, but it reminds me of the scene on snowmobiles from the second Nutcracker, and everything is shot here with high quality.

In everything else, the story is a vague collection of typical genre clichés, the apogee of which is the deliberately distorted face of the main villain, performed by Joseph Fiennes. The latter probably spent more time in the makeup chair than in front of the camera.

It’s hard to believe, but even in such a not at all glamorous and gloomy setting, the main star manages to shine in a couple of frames in a beautiful evening dress. The actress seems to have a desire to appear in front of the audience as a well-known celebrity fashionista, even if only for a short time. So it is with the movie: it’s like it’s trying to be a cool action movie, but it’s more like Ben Affleck’s wife’s attempt to remind you that she’s still Jenny from the block.

Pros:
several good action scenes (especially the chase in Cuba), the performance of Jennifer Lopez can be credited to the actress, high-quality cinematography, beautiful winter views of nature

Cons:
the weakness and secondary nature of the script, the absolute absurdity of the plot and the illogicality of the characters’ actions, template villains, a catastrophically small amount of action, the length of the story, and it is better not to mention the dramatic component at all

Conclusion:

“Mother” is not very suitable even as a one-time entertainment for the evening, everything here is so sad, illogical and predictable. Therefore, we state – before us is a weak girl power action movie with an old-school flavor, which has practically nothing to offer fans of the genre