The Mother
Director: Niki Caro
Writer: Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Joseph Fiennes, Gael García Bernal, Paul Raci, Jesse Garcia, Yvonne Senat Jones, Edie Falco
Seen on: 8./9.7.2023

Plot:
Being an assassin, The Mother (Jennifer Lopez) had to make a hard choice: leave her daughter behind and go into hiding or risk both of their lives. She chose the former, but now her past is catching up to her. By now teenaged Zoe (Lucy Paez) has been discovered by the men after the Mother and is under threat. Now The Mother needs to take Zoe back to keep her safe.

The Mother is one of those films that we have seen a lot of times before: a parent fighting various bad guys to keep their/a child safe. Only it’s usually a father or father-like figure who does the fighting and not the Mother. That The Mother turns that around is not its only selling point, but it is its biggest.

The Mother is a perfectly fine film, nothing too great, but well made and rather entertaining. It is at its best when it focuses on the relationship between The Mother and Zoe, both beautifully portrayed with charisma and sensitivity by Lopez and Paez. When it turns to the actual action (and the plot guiding said action), it becomes a little too generic, though. Especially since the two villains feel almost interchangeable.

It is saved by Lopez who is captivating. I appreciate that she has been doing more acting lately and tried to give us a wider variety of roles. I wouldn’t have seen her as a big action star, but she does well there.

And it is fascinating to see this gruff, barely talking action hero as a woman for once. It both feels like a conscious gender-swap and absolutely natural to have things set up this way. I really liked this approach that does highlight some of the gendered nature of our action tropes. But to be fair, unless you have an academic interest in this, it’s probably not enough to warrant watching the film.

You can watch the film, though, because you’re looking for a decent action fix with relatable characters at its core. And sometimes that’s just what you’re looking for, isn’t it?

Summarizing: good enough.