"The Mother" gives Jennifer Lopez a solid, badass action vehicle


The Mother (2023)

Jennifer Lopez is not just a mother but the Mother in a solid, skillfully crafted actioner incidentally called “The Mother.” Beyond the ridiculous marketing materials—the Netflix poster has the flawless J.Lo looking ready for action in a parka with lots of firearms—this is a lot more badass and emotionally intimate. Much of that has to do with director Niki Caro, who almost always takes on stories about women beating insurmountable odds (including the 2020 live-action remake of “Mulan” and 2002’s wonderful “Whale Rider”). To be clear, “The Mother” doesn’t break any new ground, but it does have Jennifer Lopez as a military-trained sniper who happens to look like Jennifer Lopez. She is giving her all and then some to a mostly rote script.


Written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig, the film is so pared down to the essentials that even giving Lopez’s character an actual name would have been too specific. When we first find The Mother (as she is only referred), she’s a (pregnant) informant being questioned in an FBI safe house in the Indiana suburbs. She’s the smartest person in the room, especially when a negotiation is cut short by the bullets of arms dealer Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes), one of The Mother’s exes. Seven agents are taken out, while The Mother, herself, and her unborn baby are nearly killed. For the safety of the child, she must give her daughter up for adoption and disappear into the Alaska wilderness. If any trouble arises, surviving Agent William Cruise (Omari Hardwick) has The Mother’s word that he will contact her. Sure enough, twelve years pass and The Mother comes out of hiding to protect The Daughter (Lucy Paez), who’s now named Zoe, from the not-dead Adrian and her other ex, contractor Hector Álvarez (Gael García Bernal), one of whom is The Father to Zoe. Cue the kidnapping, teleporting globe-hopping, motorcycle rescues, and lots of Mothering.


While it sounds like a dumb, brawny action vehicle from the ‘80s or ‘90s, “The Mother” takes itself quite seriously—perhaps too seriously with the too-obvious symbolism of a wolf and her cubs (get it?)—and earns it. The story itself is ho-hum assassin stuff, particularly after the Netflix releases of “Gunpowder Milkshake,” “Kate,” and “Lou” (which were also about rogue hit ladies trying to keep a young girl alive). But that’s where director Niki Caro comes in, bringing intense realism and clarity to the ass-kicking. What’s impressive about any action set-piece here is how Caro and cinematographer Ben Seresin actually let us appreciate the choreography with a clean shooting style and tight editing. Even after a startling bang of an opening and a tense run-and-hide sequence in a parking garage, Caro keeps letting her star show off her stuff. There’s a “Bourne”-like chase on foot (and then on a motorbike) through the alleys and streets of Cuba that’s expertly edited and thrilling. The same goes with a night raid on a guarded compound, set over Massive Attack’s cool, moody “Angel,” and the finale, located on the snowy mountain slopes in Mother’s Alaskan hideaway, is more than satisfying. 


As to be expected, the capable supporting cast doesn’t get enough playtime as the film’s star and Lucy Paez, who’s a natural as 12-year-old Zoe. Joseph Fiennes does make for a ruthless and menacing foe with a burned face (thanks, Mother), while Gael García Bernal goes the hammier route; the relationships between The Mother and both unscrupulous men remain underdeveloped but are mostly taken as read by the performances. As the one reliable FBI agent, Omari Hardwick has presence for days, but he’s still rendered mostly useless, and Paul Raci at least provides generosity as The Mother’s old veteran friend Jons. Also, Edie Falco shows up in one tantalizing scene as the director of the FBI, and then she’s gone forever. 


Jennifer Lopez’s fiercely committed performance lends a tender emotional core to what could have just been a cold, hollow throwaway without any stakes. By now, it’s no surprise that Lopez can pretty much play anything, even a lethal assassin with maternal instincts and great hair. On the page, the character is a cipher, but Lopez brings convincing grit and much-needed gravitas to a professionally lethal woman who has “46 confirmed kills in Iraq and Afghanistan” and probably never expected to be a mother. If “The Mother” doesn’t really deviate from the hundred other movies of its kind, it’s nevertheless a good version of what a slick, star-leading Netflix movie can look like.


Grade: B


Netflix is releasing “The Mother” (116 min.) to stream on May 12, 2023. 

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