New to Netflix today is the Polish action movie, Mother’s Day (aka Dzień Matki). The film – directed by Mateusz Rakowicz – stars Agnieszka Grochowska as an ex-NATO Special Operations agent, who must come out of hiding to rescue her son from gangsters.
In the film, Nina Nowak is a retired former Major who the world believes is dead. According to her gravestone Nina died in 2005, but in truth she lives a solitary existence in her small apartment, where she largely disconnects from everyone around her.
But today is different, as it is Mother’s Day and also her son’s 17th birthday. And although Nina doesn’t live with her son, as he was adopted as a child, she still spends the day thinking about him, while checking his social media account to see how he has celebrated the occasion.
However, when her son’s friends post comments online which suggest he has gone missing, Nina soon springs into action to locate him. This leads Nina to discover the boy has been kidnapped by a former enemy, who is trying to get at her in an act of revenge.
In order to rescue her son, Nina must come out of hiding and take to the streets. But will she be able to locate him before it’s too late, or is she putting both their lives at risk?
If the above premise sounds somewhat familiar, then chances are you have recently watched the Jennifer Lopez movie, The Mother, which landed on Netflix just a couple of weeks ago. As with Mother’s Day, The Mother focused on a former bad-ass who is brought out of hiding to locate her estranged child, resulting in much action in the process.
In The Mother, J-Lo is in search of her daughter; while in Mother’s Day, Nina is looking for her son. There are variations in the story, and the presentation is very different, but in essence, the two films share the same set-up.
Of course, having already watched this tale play out in The Mother, I can’t say I was all that enthused about watching the same story take place in Mother’s Day. But like the consummate professional that I am (stop sniggering at the back), I approached Mother’s Day with an open mind.
It’s a shame then that my open mind wasn’t rewarded, because this film is largely a misfire. Parts of the movie work OK, but too much of its doesn’t, and tonally it can’t decide if it wants to be a serious picture, or a more playful romp.
Where Mother’s Day works best is in the action department, where it boasts some very fun fight sequences. An early scene which sees Nina using beer cans as weapons is a hoot, while a later scene involving kitchen utensils is equally as enjoyable.
In fact, all of the fight choreography in the movie is great. There is an energy and excitement in these scenes which brings the film (temporarily) alive, and it is during these moments that Mother’s Day is at its best.
Unfortunately, when the fight scenes aren’t taking place, the movie is less-than stellar. When Nina isn’t throwing punches or firing shots, Mother’s Day becomes a bit of a snore-fest, and this left me mentally checking out.
What starts out quite promising soon turns into background noise, with only lead actress Agnieszka Grochowska keeping things afloat. And try as she might, Grochowska can’t rescue the film once the boredom sets in.
Not only did I find myself losing interest while watching Mother’s Day, I also couldn’t wait for it to finish. Considering Mother’s Day is only 90-minutes long, I feel this speaks volumes about what the movie is like, and probably tells you all you need to know about the story.
In fairness, Mother’s Day has its moments, and the action is really good, but it just doesn’t work as intended. Tonally the film is too inconsistent and thanks to its paper-thin story there’s really not much going on here to capture anyone’s interest.
Of course, it doesn’t help that J-Lo’s movie was released onto Netflix just a couple of weeks ago, essentially stealing this film’s thunder, but Mother’s Day would struggle regardless. The action sequences demonstrate potential, but potential is all it really has, and this is not something which is going to win over audiences.
If you wish to check it out, Mother’s Day is now streaming on Netflix.
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