THE MOTHER (2023)

THE MOTHER (2023)

Tagline: Vengeance is a mother.

(Action, Thriller, Probably Don’t Want to Play With Wolf Pups) [R]

Not until you know how to survive, everything it takes. 

Okay, so it’s possible that I have some sort of soft spot for Jennifer Lopez under the surface when it comes to certain films. This is one of those movies that just punched me in the gut as a father and knowing that child trafficking is a very real and very prevalent problem in our day and age. Have we seen this type of story before? Yes. Does this thing come across as super predictable? Yes. Maybe except for one of the deaths. Why? Why did they have to do that? Does this movie feel pretty cliché? Yes. Do I care? No. I really don’t. If you want something that feels original that hasn’t already been done in the 1980s, on an episode of The Twilight Zone or Doctor Who, good freakin luck. Call me when you find that. I don’t really know if the bad reviews are really about the movie actually being bad or the fact that people are pissed it highlights in a really loose artistic way, what child sex traffickers will do to stop people from talking. I feel like it might be a bit of both or something else, but what do I know. I am just a reasonable guy but I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things. Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you what this thing is about. 

The Mother (who is never given a name) is working for an organization where she is using her military training to kill people they want her to. She probably feels like she’s doing some good, but ends up discovering a dark secret about the organization she is working for and they can’t have that. Years later she is driven out of hiding to protect her daughter who has now become the target of evil. 

Now admittedly these types of films are kind of a dime a dozen when it comes to “strong females will kill you and your entire boy band” scenarios, but that doesn’t mean that some aren’t pretty good. You could say the same thing about any romance comedy, alien invasion, let’s get superpowers movie, etc. What I liked about this movie is that it’s just straight-up gritty with no bs. The Mother isn’t going to be reading you any bedtime stories, she is going to teach you how to shoot, hunt, drive, and hide knives on your body and it’s all going to get done before you turn 13. Maybe that’s what pissed people off? In any regard, I did not have the issues with this movie that a lot of people did. 

Acting wise Jennifer (SHOTGUN WEDDING) kills it even if this was a vanity project. Lucy Paez is more than adequate in the role of Zoe. We also get Joseph Fiennes (RISEN) who is a remarkable actor and is completely sadistic in this. Then rounding out the main cast we get Omari Hardwick (ARMY OF THE DEAD) who I felt got too little screen time, but really shined when he did. 

Unlike a lot of movies, we get real animals in this. The wolves aren’t CGI; they look real because they used dogs that are part wolf for the film. It’s all really well done. I get that certain subjects bother people and maybe the “Mother” in this embarrasses a lot of real mothers who wouldn’t die for their kids, but I really don’t care. I really liked this thing as gritty as it is. I thought the action sequences were awesome, and the storyline was at times heart-wrenching but good. 

THE MOTHER gets a 5 out of 7. That’s it. That’s what’s going on here.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF VERTIGO ENTERTAINMENT AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.