Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
If Jennifer Lopez has done a movie like “The Mother” some ten-fifteen years ago, she would’ve probably been heading a whole action franchise by now, with at least five sequels so far. I mean, Chris Hemsworth’s “Extraction” is getting a sequel, clearly the bar isn’t too high for action films when it comes to script and logic. Most action fans understand that as long as creators deliver a few impressive killer moves, blood, gore, and deaths, we’d give them a thumbs up.
Directed by Niki Caro, “The Mother” follows an unnamed protagonist, played by Jennifer Lopez (JLo), who has been living in hiding due to her past involvement with dangerous criminals. After twelve years of relative tranquility, the protagonist is forced to break her exile when her former enemies kidnap the daughter she had given up at birth to ensure the child’s safety. Will the mother be able to rescue her daughter?
For someone over 50, JLo is phenomenally fit and largely pulls off her role as a former soldier turned assassin who can take on dozens of men by herself. Unfortunately, the action choreography is not up to the mark, and one cannot help but notice that JLo looks slightly frazzled in chase sequences where she should appear more agile. This is in contrast to watching Lucy Liu in the action-fantasy flick “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. And Lucy Liu is both a year older than JLo and also plays an older character in the film.
Despite a generous runtime of one hour and fifty-five minutes, most characters in the film are underdeveloped and forgettable. Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal are criminally under-utilized as JLo’s evil ex-boyfriends and crime bosses. It’s hard to recall their names by the time the credits roll. The flashback to explain why the protagonist becomes entangled with mobsters is pointless and could have been omitted. Additionally, the writers want you to feel sympathy for a criminal who was perfectly fine with illegal arms trade but suddenly grows morals when it comes to human trafficking. Lucy Paez plays JLo’s daughter Zoe and there’s a surprising soft second-half where the two get to bond, but in a “Karate Kid” meets “Bear Grylls” style.
I think JLo’s “Marry Me” was a lot more fun and entertaining than her 2023 outing as killer-machine mom in “The Mother”. But it was definitely engaging to watch a woman massacre a bunch of men like a character out of a video game. Wish such roles had come by for JLo early on in her career.
It’s a 6 on 10 from me. Stream the film on Netflix.
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