The Mother review: Jennifer Lopez packs a punch in a film that doesn't
JLo uses her particular set of skills to search for her kidnapped daughter in a generic actioner from Mulan director Niki Caro

In the pantheon of female assassin films, many have shown grit and gravitas, but only a handful have nailed their targets. This is especially true in the case of original features for the streaming services. While recent international offerings from Netflix—like Kill Boksoon and Furies—have demonstrated a modicum of mettle, splashy English-language releases—like Gunpowder Milkshake and Kate—have proven frustrating and far from thrilling. And although director Niki Caro’s The Mother ranks as one of streaming’s stronger action titles, alongside Lou, it also sticks to a straightforward formula. It’s decent but a tad too restrained for its own good.
Our tale opens on a sleepy suburban safe house where our pregnant heroine—known only as The Mother (Jennifer Lopez)—attempts to broker a deal with the FBI to inform on her former exes; ruthless arms dealers Hector Alvarez (Gael García Bernal) and Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes). The negotiation is cut short when Adrian shows up and attempts to murder her and her unborn child. Since she’s a top-notch assassin, she survives and severely maims him in the process. It becomes apparent that in order to protect her newborn daughter, she must give the child up for adoption and go into hiding in the Alaskan wilderness near her ex-military pal, Jons (Paul Raci). Yet not before getting Agent Cruise’s (Omari Hardwick) word that if trouble arises again, he’s to send for her aid immediately.
Sure enough, said trouble does arise when a bunch of baddies carrying a photo of Mother’s daughter Zoe (Lucy Paez), now a happy, stable Midwestern 12-year-old, are intercepted by the FBI. With skills as sharp as ever, the dormant recluse comes out of hiding just as Zoe is kidnapped by Hector’s right-hand man, The Tarantula (Jesse Garcia). As The Mother and Cruise head to Cuba to rescue her estranged progeny from the slimy, silk shirt-sporting Hector, they draw the eyes of Adrian, who’s physically scarred and hell-bent on revenge. The Mother is then forced to launch her most precarious mission yet: Parent and train an obstinate tween in the ways of an assassin.
Similar to Lou in its use of a laconic, world-weary heroine driven to chilly remote surroundings through a sense of self-abnegation, Caro and screenwriters Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig, and Misha Green (working from a story by Green) create a dynamic female lead character who, both metaphorically and physically, dwells and thrives in life’s gray areas. This is reflected narratively, in her shady post-military career and covert motherhood, as well as aesthetically, in her dilapidated cabin sanctuary and its drab color palette. Symbolism surrounding a wolf mother and her young cubs is delivered with a tender touch, acting as a subtle nature-versus-nurture commentary on The Mother and Zoe’s dynamic.