Review: The Mother (2023)

Landing on Netflix today is the action movie, The Mother. The film – directed by Niki Caro – stars Jennifer Lopez, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Joseph Fiennes, and Gael García Bernal, and follows the story of an assassin, who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she once had to give up.

In the film, Jennifer Lopez plays ‘The Mother’ – a pregnant, expert assassin, mixed up with wanted criminals. While attempting to cut a deal with the FBI to get herself out of her situation, she is attacked and her unborn baby’s life is put at risk.

After giving birth to the baby, she is forced to make a new deal with the FBI. In order to ensure the safety of her new-born daughter, from the criminals that nearly killed her, The Mother agrees to give up the child so she can be fostered under a new identity.

However, while The Mother does understand the importance of giving up her child, she has a few stipulations regarding the fostering. Every year on her birthday, she wants updates on the girl’s life, and if ever her daughter is in any trouble, she wants to know about it.

Twelve years pass under this arrangement, with the FBI sticking to their word. But one day The Mother is informed her daughter is in danger, which forces her to come out of hiding to keep the child safe.

Recently there has been a number of underwhelming action movies on streaming services, from Apple’s Ghosted to Netflix’s Kill Boksoon, and while I’m not about to tell you The Mother completely bucks this trend, I do have good news: This one is pretty decent. While the film is nothing particularly amazing, The Mother is enjoyable stuff and for action fans it is certainly worth a watch.

The picture centres around the titular matriarch, as played by Jennifer Lopez. In the film, Lopez becomes a woman on a mission, who fears for the life of her daughter, and this gives the movie some energy and a sense of purpose.

From here, the picture explores her backstory, and explains why she is the way she is, while also chucking various action sequences at the screen. Within the first 40 minutes there is a shoot-out, a sniper scene, and a street chase, and this helps to keep the pace up to begin the story.

None of the action is ground-breaking stuff, and The Mother is not able to compete with the level of spectacle you’d see in your average comic book movie, but what is presented here is absolutely fine. The set pieces are decent, the film looks good, and Lopez is great in the lead role.

I’m a fan of Lopez on screen, and thoroughly enjoyed her recent action-comedy, Shotgun Wedding. That film allowed the actress to lean into a comedic performance, while this one allows her to play things straight.

This is a no-nonsense role for Lopez, with no puns or quips, and she handles it well. As The Mother, she takes no prisoners, and never holds back, and it’s good to see the difference between what she delivers here to what she offered up in Shotgun Wedding.

Lopez is the driving force in the movie and she fits perfectly into the world that is created in The Mother. She has a hard edge, and so does the movie, and the two complement each other well.

Throughout the film her character goes on a journey, where she has to learn what it means to be a mother. She’s not just a gun-wielding protector, she also has to be a teacher and a positive influence on a daughter who doesn’t know her.

This allows for some important character development, and some strong scenes in which mother and daughter interact. This is where the film truly finds its strength, and it is in the quieter moments where a good bit of depth is added to the picture.

Now, while The Mother does get plenty of things right, it does struggle a little in places, including in its runtime, which is a bit too long for this sort of story. The film runs close to two hours, but could do with being a little shorter to make it sprightlier.  

I also feel this picture could benefit from a stronger villain. Joseph Fiennes takes on bad guy duties, and he makes little to no impression.

I get that this is Lopez’s movie, but if the film wants to sell her character as a kick-ass assassin, who is worried about a creepy villain bumping off her daughter, then that villain needs to appear more threatening throughout. Fiennes isn’t given much to do in the film – he barely factors in it for the majority of the movie – and this feels like a misstep.

These things don’t derail the picture, but they are issues to note. A few tweaks here and there would make this a stronger piece.

While The Mother is nothing special, it is solid action film for streaming. It has enough going on throughout the picture to keep audiences interested, and even if you do know where it is heading at all times, the journey is worth taking.

Lopez is great in the movie, it’s an easy watch, and it has some decent visuals. All-in-all, not bad, and better than some of the other movies that have popped up on Netflix as of late.

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