The Mother Review | Movie – Empire

Jennifer Lopez reminded us that she’s fairly useful with a weapon in Shotgun Marriage ceremony earlier this yr. She will get a number of alternatives to showcase that when once more in The Mom, a film which sees her be part of the likes of Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington, and Bob Odenkirk within the annals of late-career motion herodom. Directed by Niki Caro, it’s a slick if slight Netflix outing that doesn’t reinvent the wheel however does simply sufficient to entertain.

Lopez simply convinces as a formidable lady who’s an knowledgeable in fight. And whereas the motion scenes will not be revolutionary, they do have a crispness about them. The punches really feel impactful. The excessive level comes when Lopez’s character (she is credited merely as ‘The Mom’) heads to Cuba to dispatch a home stuffed with dangerous males with pace and decisiveness. The low level is available in a chase scene so over-edited that for a quick second, it feels as if you’re watching Taken 2.

For a lot of the movie, Lopez cuts an intense and stoic determine. However inevitably, that hardened exterior is slowly pierced to disclose a beating coronary heart as she spends extra time along with her daughter. Misha Inexperienced’s script leans just a little too onerous right into a mother-wolf metaphor that might’ve been simpler as visible storytelling reasonably than being explicitly spelled out. However it additionally offers ample alternative to Lopez and Lucy Paez to generate first rate chemistry with each other.

As for the boys, there’s not a lot meat on the bone for anybody right here. There’s a touch that there is perhaps one thing greater than respect between Omari Hardwick’s FBI agent and Lopez’s Mom, nevertheless it’s not explored sufficient for sure moments to hit as onerous as they need to. In the meantime, Paul Raci’s Jons – a weapons specialist who served with Mom in Afghanistan – is little greater than an exposition machine. Villains-wise, Gael García Bernal’s Hector Alvarez is criminally underused, and Joseph Fiennes’ scarred former SAS arms vendor stays one observe all through.

However this can be a movie that’s at the beginning a showcase for its star, and on that entrance it – and Lopez – ship. The Mom marks her first vital motion drama since 1998’s Out Of Sight, a profession excessive level. Hopefully, it received’t be her final.