Jennifer Lopez's new movie is now streaming on Netflix. Released just in time for this year's Mother's Day, The Mother is the story of a hardened ex-veteran/ spy/ FBI informant/ and most of all, a mother.
Jennifer Lopez in the movie, is known as the Mother. She has been given no name. So the mother is warning her bosses at the FBI that her safe house is no longer safe and that the bad guys know her location, seconds before the said bad guys burst in through the door and have her cornered. Even though she has rigged the place with hastily made explosives, it is not long before she is pushed against the wall by Adrian Lovell, her ex-lover and also present bad guy. As Lovell pushes the knife against her, we realize that she is pregnant. Contrary to his name, Lovell has no love left in him and pushes the knife deep into her abdomen. But just before he could twist the knife more, the explosives around the house go off and Lovell's face is charred, giving him a burnt, wrinkled look for the rest of the movie.
Source: Variety
The agents who were saved by the mother take her to the hospital and give her good and bad news. Her daughter was born soon after and she is a healthy baby. And the bad news obviously is that the mother will only endanger her life more if she stays in her life now. So the mother decides to make a deal with the FBI. She will give the daughter up for adoption and lead a life far, far away from all of this.
Needless to say, 12 years later the bad guys come back, looking for vengeance and the mother is forced to come out of hiding. With amazing cloaks, parkas, snow boots that glide over the pristine white snow, and all her shooting and killing instincts intact, the mother looks divine while killing the bad guys and saving her daughter.
Jennifer Lopez stars in the titular role. She is kicking every bad guy's ass as if she has done this her whole life. But the movie rarely contains anything except action sequences. The hardened exterior and interior of the mother prevent her from having any emotional scenes with her daughter, which is a shame because we know Lopez would have aced those too. The movie is a tad bit long for aesthetic action sequences telling the whole story. Lucy Paez who plays Zoe, Lopez's sassy teenage daughter is a rockstar and a delight to watch. Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, and Gael Garcia are spectacular in their roles.
The Mother is not as exciting as it tries to be. Maybe if you are hard-pressed for choices, otherwise we will gladly give this a miss.
By SB
