The Mother review: Jennifer Lopez shoulders the wobbly action thriller

2/5

When she learns her daughter Zoe (Lucy Paez) is in danger, a deadly female assassin (Jennifer Lopez) comes out of hiding to protect her.

In one of the scenes, The Mother (Jennifer Lopez) is heard telling her daughter Zoe, "For all my mistakes, you are the one good and beautiful thing that I have done with my life. You are a marvel." The unnamed assassin had nothing to lose until she became pregnant and continued leading her life in a similar way after giving birth. The Mother, featuring Lopez as an unnamed woman, starts with her cracking a deal and then getting into high-octane action mode. Until she is stabbed by the baddie Adrian (Joseph Fiennes), it's not shown that she is heavily pregnant, which wasn't an obstacle while doing her job.

In quick succession, the film forwards to 12 years after she gives birth to a baby girl and is immediately stripped of her parental rights due to her job. However, the very job gets her daughter abducted, and thus begins the journey of a mother and her little girl, who only knows tough love to give and take.

In one of the scenes, she even says to her daughter, "I have shown you my love in the only way I know. When the time comes for you to use what I've taught you, don't hesitate to take your place in the world."

Lopez, who has been loved more for her rom-com genre in movies, brings back the action mode, which has been missing for quite a few years now. The actor is a treat to watch owing to her perfect physique for an action star. She brings in the right emotions as a mother who never got to be one but has always been around men who taught her to be tough enough to face the world. Of course, there is a but: does it help the movie get better? Not so much.

The Mother's basic storyline only lacks depth in that it starts on a high note, and that's it. There is nothing to look forward to in Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig's predictable screenplay. The film has promise, but it suffers from a few unfinished parts that detract from the overall experience. It's more due to the script than the actors that the baddies Joseph Fiennes as Adrian Lovell and Gael García Bernal as Héctor Álvarez weren't more formidable and even fun to watch.

Although The Mother has some familiar elements from past revenge films, it succeeds where its predecessors have failed. The film has its moments, but it never quite rises beyond its wonderful qualities, and its stumbles keep it from being outstanding.

Niki Caro, who took charge of directing the film, brings out Lopez, who is walking shoulder-to-shoulder with her male counterparts. In one of the scenes, Hector tells The Mother, "You sold your soul to the devil. How come you still look so good?" We know how the actor has brought out her best acting abilities, and yet there's an unbelievable factor that her male counterparts refuse to sink in: this woman never ages, and she is as sharp as a sniper, so don't dare mess with her.

Watch it at normal speed or increase it, like the Netflix feature allows; it won't make any difference as it's a very slow-paced film with nothing new to offer.

Jennifer Lopez makes The Mother an exciting watch, but the story makes it duller as the film goes on.