'Mother' is an ultra-dumb action movie from Netflix in which Jennifer Lopez saves her daughter from stupid bandits

On May 12, Mother premiered on Netflix. A very serious action movie turned out to be terrible.

Three people were responsible for the script: Misha Green ("Spartacus: Blood and Sand"), Peter Craig ("Top Gun: Maverick") and Andrea Berloff ("Voice of the streets»). They probably worked on the film separately, without contact with each other, so it turned out to be such nonsense. Directed by Niki Caro (The Coach).

Jennifer Lopez played the lead role. Her heroine does not have a name, she is listed in the credits as The Mother, which hints at her mystery.

The film begins with a scene in which a pregnant hitman (Jennifer Lopez) testifies to the FBI. The interrogation is interrupted due to the attack of criminals who want to get to the witness. During the fight, a knife is stuck in the stomach of the heroine. Fortunately, the child is still born, but the FBI agents force the mother to give up parental rights - they believe that the attackers will do everything to kill the newborn. Lopez agrees and leaves to live in the north of the United States. After 12 years, the criminals

kidnapped her daughter. The mother is ready to do everything to save the child, including remembering her fighting skills.

Two films in one. And both are bad.

To return the kidnapped daughter, Jennifer Lopez goes to Cuba. It seems that throughout the film she will collect evidence, obtain information, speculate, but she has no time to do this. To find enemies, she just comes to the bar - and voila. This may be the shortest investigation in history.

In the course of the story, the viewer finds out that the criminal who kidnapped the child is the girl's father. That is, once he stuck a knife in the stomach of his ex mistresses. Certainly not "Wedding Planner", but also confusing.

Tracking is replaced by a chase, a couple of bad fights, and, it would seem, the girl's salvation is near. The plot moves suspiciously fast. But that's only half the picture. Then the second begins - and it completely ignores everything that was before. She reminds me of the seriesdexter: New blood. A murderous parent and an innocent child try to make contact surrounded by snow and tall trees. There is even hunting.

But for all its absurdity, the last season of Dexter had at least a little irony, and Mother is devoid of it. Lopez teaches the girl to drive and shoot while they hide from criminals.

There is no logical transition between the two halves of the film. There is a feeling that there were scripts for two parts, but they were simply divided in half and connected. In both cases, the plot is so banal and predictable that any word about the film turns into a spoiler. By the way, the trailer also reveals all the cards - the case when you can draw conclusions in two minutes.

comical seriousness

The viewer is constantly reminded that Jennifer Lopez is a tough killer. But every time you see her face in the frame, you want to laugh. With the same success, you can show a kitten and say that he is a tractor. When Lopez tenses, holding a rifle in his hands, the actor Alexander Nevsky is recalled, pulling his lips: "Absolutely strange." Lopez plays like she's a hand Erica Cartman.

The scene in which the pregnant Lopez is stabbed in the stomach is reminiscent of an episode from Carne by Gaspard Noe. The difference is that the French director managed to shoot it creepy, but Niki Caro never explained to Lopez how she should act. Judging by her face, the child is in no danger of being stabbed. Maybe it will blow out because of the hole in the stomach, but that's okay.

And every time the viewer should be afraid for the health of the characters, they just dust themselves off and move on. Attacked by a wolf? Don't care. Got shot? I run. Blown up? Sorry, I'm not there. It seems that if a meteorite falls on Lopez, then her hair will be ruined at worst.

Of course the film would not funnyif the main character was sympathetic. But she can't summon him. A few flashbacks and a couple of sentimental dialogues should have made The Mother at least a little bit of a living character, but everything rests on “here she is a cool killer” and “here she is sad.”

Until the end of the film, it does not become clear why she was involved in arms deals, with whom she actually fell in love, and what she did for 12 years until her daughter was kidnapped. The filmmakers didn't even try to make Lopez different makeup, so in flashbacks she looks exactly the same as in the main timeline. Because of this, it seems that she managed in a week get pregnant, give birth and go to rescue a 12-year-old daughter.

Lack of logic

In the first hour of the film, the FBI looks like a powerful organization that is often wrong. In the second half, the bureau disappears altogether. Sorry JLo, everyone's on vacation. It seems that the FBI had only a dozen agents and after the first shootout they ended.

But help from the state is not needed when your enemies are idiots. For example, they are ready to kidnap a child in order to lure Lopez into a trap. The operation fails, and they decide to wait months for The Mother and her daughter to show up somewhere.

But if you're so bloodthirsty, why didn't you kidnap the girl's adoptive parents? Lopez would stand up for them. No, the criminals are just waiting.

They are able to track down a child they have never seen (and whose name they don't even know), but they can't find Lopez. Apparently, the face is not memorable.

Explainable failure

When watching the film, the question constantly arises: why did all these people unite? Why did Niki Caro decide to make an action film? Why was Jennifer Lopez cast as the brutal killer? Who made the composer Jermain Franco, whose peak career is a soundtrack for a good cartoon? "Mother" is a mosaic of crooked details that simply could not come together in a beautiful image.

And the idea “Mom is ready to do everything to save the child” is so simple that you could not make a film. You could just come up with a name and go home.

However, "Mother" with all her stupidity is not alone at all. Not so long ago, a film was released with the beautiful name "Airplane" (although it was translated as "crash”) with Gerard Butler. "Mother" looks like his brother (or sister). A script is taken, as if written in 1985, a Hollywood star, a carload of weapons, after which the director tries to marry it all. It turns out badly, but funny. The more serious the faces of the characters, the more fun it is to watch them.

strange music

There is not a single catchy song in the first half of the film. In the second, something strange happens - the authors of "Mother" remember the singer Grimes and play several of her songs. It looks like the composer was just poking around in the player and suddenly stumbled upon Grimes, but he was too lazy to change the music in the first half of the film, so he stuck the tracks of the Canadian singer one by one.

"Mother" is a great movie if you've never watched drama and militants. Otherwise, it will become boring in the third minute, unbearable in the 10th, but by the 60th the picture will start to make you laugh. But if you really want to watch Jennifer Lopez for two hours, then it's better to include 30 of her clips.