4 months ago
In a movie profession that stretches backmost 25 years, Jennifer Lopez has connected juncture done flaked-out underworld thriller romance (“Out of Sight”), capery action (“Parker”) and revenge (“Enough”). Yet she has ne'er placed herself astatine nan halfway of specified a down-and-dirty, grimly overwrought, execute-now-and-ask-questions-later B-movie arsenic “The Mother.” I’m tempted to telephone nan movie “minimalist,” because if you see its bare-bones screenplay (by 3 writers!), its convoluted utilitarian set-up, its 2D villains, and its basal formulaic momentum, it’s a premier illustration of action filmmaking made basic.
Yet “The Mother” is simply a Netflix action movie, which intends that it has a definite spirit of ambition mixed into its pulp stew. The movie, which should person been 90 minutes agelong (it’s 116), is lumpy and inflated, it’s sketchy yet a touch grandiose, and it’s afloat of tersely dramatized scenes that someway consciousness overly broad. Lopez, arsenic a subject sniper turned agent of underground arms deals turned FBI informant turned savagely cool-headed protector of her 12-year-old daughter, is playing a badass not truthful acold removed from those played by Jason Statham aliases (in his grade-B prime) Bruce Willis, and she’s up to nan task. She shoots, she stabs, she chops windpipes, she motorcycles down chromatic stairways successful 1 of those chase-through-an-ancient-city action scenes (this 1 takes spot successful Havana), she tortures a man by punching him pinch a fist wrapped successful barb wire, she grimaces successful muscle-torn agony but mostly looks stiff and implacable. Even much important, she puts her ain rotation connected those acquainted motions.
“The Mother” opens successful a suburban FBI safe house, wherever Lopez’s character, who is ne'er named (in nan credits she’s conscionable called The Mother — how’s that for out-depersonalizing Jason Bourne?), is being interrogated by an supplier astir nan vulnerable spot betwixt 2 criminals that she extracted herself from. “You introduced them?” “Yes.” “You brokered an arms woody betwixt them?” “Yes.” “And you were successful a narration pinch some of them?” “Yes.” That’s not a business you could find an analog for successful nan Statham/Willis universe.
Lopez besides sewage pregnant by 1 of these men, who aft discovering her betrayal really stabs her pregnant belly. The girl she’s carrying is saved, but nan FBI forces her to springiness nan babe away, truthful that nan kid tin beryllium placed successful a protection program. Raised by adoptive parents, nan girl, named Zoe (Lucy Paez), makes it to 12, but she’s still a target for Lopez’s aged enemies, who want to usage her arsenic bait to lure Lopez retired of hiding.
This is simply a alternatively tortured scenario, fixed that it’s mostly nan film’s measurement of mounting up an adult-meets-kid action movie for illustration “The Professional” aliases “Logan.” Those films were acold amended (because their scripts felt for illustration much than diagrams). “The Mother,” arsenic a Lopez vehicle, reminded maine of thing truthful overmuch arsenic Liam Neeson’s caller tally of revenge potboilers. Yet there’s a measurement you tin bask immoderate of those films almost for their limitations; it’s each astir pinning your full finance connected nan karma of Neeson. “The Mother” was directed by Niki Caro, nan New Zealand filmmaker who made nan soulful and acclaimed “Whale Rider” 20 years ago, and Caro keeps nan attraction connected nan Lopez heroine’s obsession. She whitethorn not person seen her girl for 12 years, but her relationship to her is primal, and that’s what drives nan action. She’s doing what she does because she has to.
The movie leaps locations astir arsenic overmuch arsenic a nuclear-arms thriller, but erstwhile Lopez ambushes nan palatial Cuban property wherever Hector (Gabriel García Bernal), 1 of nan 2 arms dealers, has lured her (their face-off, backdropped by religion candles, is stylized capable to consciousness for illustration thing retired of a “John Wick” film), she retrieves nan endangered Zoe and takes her to nan cabin, nestled successful nan snowy conifer wilderness of Alaska, wherever she herself hid retired for those 12 years. Paul Raci, nan intensely compelling actor, each sinewy furrowed thought, who played nan self-actualizing deaf halfway-house guru successful “Sound of Metal” is Lopez’s aged subject comrade, and Joseph Fiennes is Adrian, nan different arms trader — a scarred psycho who will prosecute Lopez to nan ends of nan earth. But she knows he’s coming. So she trains nan tween Zoe successful her survivalist techniques, which is simply a touch preposterous, but whatever.
The climax features Adrian coming astatine her pinch a twelve henchmen connected snowmobiles, a series that brought maine back, momentarily, to nan skis pursuit successful “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” This 1 has nary specified majesty. It’s a batch of blam-blam, pinch nan bodies picked disconnected for illustration video-game fodder. “The Mother” is watchable product, but Lopez proves that she tin rousingly transportation a image for illustration this one. The truth is, it doesn’t do her justice. Her characteristic is by training a sniper, and astatine 1 constituent she has to prime disconnected immoderate villains by shooting into a crowd successful a measurement that nary world-class sniper would ever do. It made maine think: Forget this slovenly, opportunistic action. What Lopez deserves to prima successful is simply a new-world remake of “The Day of nan Jackal.”
