Netflix night: Jennifer Lopez in GI Joe mode and Mother Wolf in Mother

What is it about?

A female assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she abandoned years ago…

Mother, written by Misha Green, Andrea Berloff and Peter Craig, directed by Nikki Caro with Jennifer Lopez, Lucy Paez, Omar Hardwick…

who is he with

A few months after the romantic action comedy Shotgun Wedding , Jennifer Lopez is back in pure action with The Mother , directed by Nikki Caro and starting on Charlize Theron’s heels in the game of who puts the biggest mandals. She plays the “mother” there, and the film never gives away her identity. She is a woman from a familyless background who found him in the army.

Then he goes down the wrong path and associates with the wrong people. Young Mexican actress Lucy Paez plays Zoe, a girl she abandoned at birth when two horrible Jojos wanted her skin.

The villains in question are camped out by Joseph Fiennes, who plays Adrian, an arms dealer, and Gael García Bernal, who plays Hector Alvarez, an entrepreneur—you know, a con boy—whom his mother meets at Guantanamo Bay in 2007.

After entrusting her daughter to be adopted and protected by the FBI, the mother resumes work when Lovell and Alvarez track down Zoe. He is then alerted and aided by FBI agent William Cruise, played by Omar Hardwick ( The Force ).

Is it worth checking out?

At the age of 53, Jennifer Lopez has never looked as beautiful and flexible as she does here Mother, a stylized but utterly unforgettable action thriller. She portrays a woman running away from her past who is forced to adopt and lead an isolated life surrounded by nature in Alaska.

For the occasion, the star doesn’t back down from the punches he’s forcefully dishing out against mastiffs who weigh twice as much. And Nikki Caro knows how to accentuate it by bringing in some elegance. In particular, we have the right to a snowmobile chase, which in itself is always a source of satisfaction.

But what a pity that the mother does not offer much else. The two hours of the film mainly consist of chases, fights and bloodshed scenes. If it’s done with a beat, there’s nothing wrong with bullets flying all over the place and hemoglobin spewing — as evidenced by Charlize Theron’s achievement in Atomic Blonde — but screenwriters Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig and Misha Green can barely contain the mother-daughter bond. Suggested from the title.

This is used in the film’s weakest part, which is furiously reminiscent of the beginning of Hanna, where a very young Saoirse Ronan is being trained by her father (Eric Bana) to become a war machine in the inhospitable region of Finland. Except little Zoey doesn’t have time to do the same things.

The emotional flow is lost by the development of two villainous stories that betray the main narrative promise and create more confusion than clarity. A screenplay saturated with tepid dialogue and shallow plot prevents them from exploring the complex dynamics of their relationship.

A mother and daughter reunite after 12 years apart in an atmosphere that is more of a teen comedy about a ungrateful age that leads to awkward exchanges and forced connections. In these moments, the director never fails to dig into the psychological trauma Zoe might feel when she comes face-to-face with her biological mother (when she’s just been kidnapped!)

Anyone watching the film will not question Jennifer Lopez’s prowess, especially after watching her wield rifles, assault rifles, knives, motorcycles, and snowmobiles as she engages in intense chases through the streets of Havana. The Mother is a great showcase for her athletic talent, but struggles to showcase her acting skills – which are real – as the film succumbs too easily to genre clichés.