Monday, May 15, 2023

The Mother (12 May 2023)

 

Genre: Action Thriller
Channel: Netflix
Duration: 118 minutes

Director: Niki Caro
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, Gael GarcĂ­a Bernal

"While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin comes out of hiding to protect her daughter she left earlier in life."

The storyline is one of the usual action thrillers, but it's a well made and crisp movie, most of which is picturized on the protagonist aka the mother aka Jennifer Lopez, who impresses to the T. 

She plays a practical non-empathatic loner with superb survival techniques. Living in the shadow of her past of being in military forces and then in arms cartel, she lives all alone in an old cabin in an ice capped Alaska region and hunts animals for food. 

She bears all of this hardship to stay out of radar of her two ex arms ring associates cum lovers who are presently out for her blood. 

She sacrificed the joys of motherhood and agreed to put her daughter in foster care, right from birth, so that she stays safe. 

However, when upon turning 12, the daughter is no more safe, the mother comes out of her seclusion and leaves no stone unturned in destroying the enemies and ensuring her child's safety, not once but twice. 

Before the second attack, she even trains her daughter the survival techniques required to stay alive and safe.

The direction is crisp. The production designing is impressive. The cinematography of the vast ice capped region is beautiful.

And so is the mother-daughter bond during training and henceforth. It's different from the usual mushy ones. 

Jennifer Lopez looks sharp, fit and realistic in combat scenes. She ably conveys controlled emotions for her daughter upon meeting and spending time with her, only after she has turned 12!! 

She doesn't resort to hysteria or unnecessary dramatics or any other emotion display that is impractical for a hardened loner assassin.

Overall, the movie is a good tribute to the recently concluded Mother’s Day.