Directed By Niki Caro

Starring – Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Gael Garcia Bernal

The Plot – While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin (Lopez) comes out of hiding to protect her daughter (Lucy Paez) she left earlier in life.

Rated R for violence, some adult language and brief drug use

THE MOTHER | Official Teaser | Netflix – YouTube

POSITIVES

Lopez once more works overtime in exceeding a mediocre script with her unshakeable commitment to role, which she effortlessly exudes why she is one of the most believable female action stars working today. Far from the contrasts of Lopez in romantic comedy roles that have dominated a majority of her career, here she slides seamlessly back into the role of bona fide badass, this time as a ruthlessly dangerous assassin turned parent whose only vulnerability stems from the daughter she’s tasked with protecting. Lopez exudes a demanding dependency on physicality and resiliency in grit that not only makes her a captivating presence at all times, despite the otherwise one-dimensional balance of characterization that plagues her character’s growth, but also one that vividly illustrates Lopez’ commitment to task, which even at the age of 53 feels like it isn’t slowing down any time soon. Beyond Lopez, the film’s direction from Caro benefits from a thick layer of emotionality that continuously reminds us of the stakes at hand, transcribing an element of much-needed heart to the proceedings, which will undoubtedly strike a personal chord with the mothers in the audience who bare a diverse-but-similar attitude towards the bonds of their children. Because so much of the script and corresponding developments feel like stock direction from other, better films of the genre we’ve previously experienced, this element is easily the best and most developed of the entire narrative, leading to honest and endearing interactions between the mother and daughter characters, which leads to what I truly feel is a superior second half of the film. Finally, the primary setting of Alaska as the movie’s backdrop conjures an atmospheric element of lawless vulnerability that surrounds our protagonist with an overwhelming uncertainty, and with the balance of a coldly damp consistency in cinematography from Ben Seresin, mesermizes so many of the film’s visuals with a weathered canvas that creatively feels like the materialization of a woman forced to live alone in isolation with the many secrets and betrayals that have materialized the weapon she becomes before us.

NEGATIVES

Sadly, “The Mother” veers a bit too close to conventionalism to ever leave a mark on its own in a genre condemned by mediocre returns that have since made Netflix a permanent mainstay in its periodic release schedule throughout any given year. In this instance, the script and corresponding dialogue are its biggest problem, with on-the-nose exposition and a familiarity for story beats that rob the occasion of any semblance of unpredictability, while telling the audience everything that it should be showing us. The biggest example of this is in Lopez’s character, who requires every supporting character to vividly paint who she is and why she’s so dangerous. When Lopez is given free reign to physically show her set of skills, it’s nothing remarkable beyond her ability as a marksman, and even then the condemning emphasis of the editing consistency obscures her exceptionalism. More on that in a second. This is a stark contrast to a film like “John Wick”, in which brief exposition outlines the man before his actions give us the complete picture, but here “The Mother” is often more defined by her paternal instincts, in turn dramatically undercutting a major element of her development that feels as coldly calculated as the aforementioned scenery that surrounds her. In addition to this, the development and teasing of the movie’s mystery, involving who is the father of Lopez’s daughter goes unfulfilled, leaving it a major dissappointment to the movie’s creativity, which feels all the more alarming considering the script wasted so many minutes trying to get to the bottom of it. Beyond this, the action sequences are marred by presentational aspects so tragically overstylized that they forcefully eviscerate investment to some otherwise dangerously enticing set pieces. Most of the problem here is certainly the editing, which instills a frenetic consistency to the proceedings that smothers detection, but some of the blame lends itself to the herky jerky movements of the camera, which makes it a chore to remain focused towards who is involved, and what is happening during any particular frame. The worst of this is easily during the opening act of the movie, where Lopez singlehandedly takes out an entire army by her own assassin capabilities, but with depictions that make it feel an earthquake is transpiring unstopped throughout. Immersive essence is always the key to unraveling any action set piece, but when it comes at a cost of interpretation, it leaves plenty more to be desired, leaving us with a series of underwhelming returns that waste away the most effective potential that the film had for itself. Lastly, a pretty remarkable supporting cast of Fiennes and Bernal goes entirely wasted, with one-dimensional outlines as antagonists that feel like stock outlines for bad men who are bad for the sake of being bad. This is especially the case for Bernal, who is sadly only in one scene throughout the entirety of the film, but in attempting the rare antagonist spin for him, is left standing at the alter for a script that has nothing for him to even accidentally stand out in, with no opportunity to take some of the load of responsibility from Lopez’s shoulders.

OVERALL
“The Mother” is nurtured by an enthralling physical-heavy turn from Lopez and an atmospherically rich presentation that materializes the darkly devastating circumstances of its conflict, but its unfulfilling and underdeveloped misfires of the script keep it from being the next big action franchise for Netflix, with nature running its course in the clunky conventionalism that unfortunately define a majority of the app’s lackluster consistency.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+