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No matter which of her many hats she’s currently wearing—whether as a dancer, a pop star, a movie star, a producer, or even a wife and mother—Jennifer Lopez always seems to go all in. I definitely wouldn’t want to stand between her and whatever she’s going after. And she tends to bring that intensity to her action movies—like Netflix’s The Mother.
The Mother follows Lopez’s nameless character after her attempt to break up a massive arms deal ends in the deaths of several FBI agents—and nearly the loss of her own unborn child, too. Once the child is born, the FBI places her with a new family, sending a heartbroken mother to fend for herself. After twelve years of living in the Alaskan wilderness, though, she’s informed that her daughter, Zoe (Lucy Paez), is in danger—so her mother comes out of hiding to protect Zoe from a couple of dangerous men who both want their revenge.
As soon as she returns to civilization, she tries but fails to prevent Zoe’s abduction, which then sends her racing out of the country to save her child from two bad men who have, for some reason, both decided to come after the girl at the same time. This gifted assassin ends up in one deadly situation after another, trying to rescue a helpless kid who neither knows her nor trusts her. It definitely makes for an action-packed thriller—and the fact that the person who’s fighting back is a mom instead of a dad gives it an extra twist.
Though Jennifer Lopez has starred in everything from musical dramas to rom-coms, there’s just something about the tenacious megastar that makes sense in a role like this one. She’s got the kind of fierce, no-nonsense personality that makes you believe that she wouldn’t hesitate to take aim at any person or beast who put one of her loved ones in danger (whether it was one of her kids, Ben Affleck, or her hair stylist). She can play a ruthless assassin while giving the role a little bit of a mother’s heart, too.
Still, in the midst of the character’s relentless protection of the child she was forced to give up, the story loses its way. The beginning and end offer plenty of action—enough to make audiences forget about the messiness of it all—but the second act drags. So it’s a good thing that Lopez tends to be generally watchable—even when the story gets a little too caught up in the drama.
Thanks to its likable star, The Mother makes for a generally entertaining movie night at home. Though the story may sometimes feel random and uneven, she brings the film plenty of mama-bear action and intensity.
You can follow J-Lo in her fight when The Mother premieres on Netflix on May 12, 2023.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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