THE MOTHER: Flawed Film With A Villain Problem

Action films are a dime a dozen, too often falling to the generic tropes and action sequences these films typically have to offer. While some rise to the challenge, others fall flat, forgotten as soon as the film has ended. Sadly, if it wasn’t for this review, I too would have forgotten Niki Caro‘s The Mother. Built and briefly promoted around the star power of Jennifer Lopez, The Mother fails to become anything new, confused in its direction and identity, its fractures showing just when audience investment is needed most.

Solid Opening, Rocky Film

The opening of The Mother is surprisingly solid, delivering a fast-paced, high-octane feeling to the film. Albeit generic, it gets your blood pumping as Lopez‘s The Mother gives the sense that no one in the film is safe. Based on the ruthless direction of the opening, the remainder of the film will leave viewers wondering if The Mother will even make it out alive. What makes this opening so successful is that it does not rely on the need for deeply driven narrative constructs or emotional investment. This is the action scene that sets the pace for the film, crafting the intrigue and setting the core that will reverberate throughout the film’s entirety.

The Mother holds this energy as it begins to settle into is primary character of The Mother, the ultimate sacrifice of putting her daughter up for adoption for safety following birth keeping the high stakes. Even as The Mother covers an eight-year span of seclusion in Alaska, the solace giving a momentary reprieve from the anticipated action, the film still maintains the energy that chaos and disaster are just on the horizon.

Yet as The Mother returns to the world when her past comes to threaten the child she has never known, the film begins to lose some of its steam. Joseph Fiennes is introduced as villain Adrian in the opening sequence and seems to be the “big boss’ threatening the film. But The Mother seems to forget this early on, crafting a villain in Tarantula (Jesse Garcia) and Hector (Gael García Bernal). It at times feels like a video game, a match-up with each boss battle is required before reaching the final match. And even when that happens, it continues to prove The Mother has a villain problem — it doesn’t know who the real villain is or what to do with them.

The film runs into further issues as it begins to weigh itself down in exposition, drawn-out explanations, and flashbacks dragging the pace to a slow crawl between action scenes. By the time the action finally arrives, it loses its intended punch trying to snap its audience back to attention. And as the film ticks by and the exposition of The Mother’s past begins to weigh down the pace and feel of the film, by the end of the first act, The Mother starts to show its cracks. Fissures of poor continuity and control glare at the audience as not all sequences flow together seamlessly, driving a deep disconnect between the audience and the film. And by the end of the first act, the film feels as though it has already run its course, seemingly forgetting it has two more acts to deliver to its audience.

Conclusion

Generic and predictable, not all is lost in The Mother. When the action does happen, it is well-choreographed and engaging. One moment, in particular, shines, scores and timed action marrying for the perfect display of covert interception as The Mother descends on the home of Hector. These moments find their success too in the undeniably committed and gritty performance of Jennifer Lopez. She gives the film all she has, even if the film struggles to give her what she needs. Lopez is a hard-as-nails assassin, with the unequivocal devotion of motherly love and protection. While there is a lingering reminiscent feel of Lopez‘s turn in Enough, she is far from it, always in control and always the dominating force.

Yet it is easy to see where on paper the potential for this film lay. Honestly, The Mother feels as though it would have been more fitting as a miniseries. It attempts to harness an array of characters and storylines, without truly committing to one or the other. With more time and attention to its characters, and its villains, the film would have solved many of the issues that plagued it and The Mother would have expanded a world that’s bursting at the seams.

Despite well-choreographed action and a gritty performance from Jennifer Lopez, The Mother is not the Mother’s Day vehicle Netflix had hoped it would be.

The Mother is streaming on Netflix!

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