As someone who loves watching films at the cinema, I have been impressed by the number of movies made for streaming services too. Lately there have been some really entertaining ones such as Boston Strangler and The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (which I should have reviewed by now). This week I want to share my film review of ‘The Mother’ – a thrilling new movie starring Jennifer Lopez.

‘The Mother’ had an exciting trailer showing J-Lo doing pull ups in the Alaskan forest and readying her rifle for battle. It suggested that she had a daughter who she was determined to protect at all costs. As far as trailers go, it definitely made me look up and take notice.

So when it was released on Friday on Netflix I quickly started watching. Here are my thoughts about this Number One Netflix film.

What’s It All About?

The funny thing about this movie is that we don’t really hear Jennifer’s character’s name spoken. In fact, the subtitles and IMDB refer to her simply as THE MOTHER. This made me chuckle but as you watch the movie, it kind of makes a lot of sense.

J-Lo literally is THE MOTHER of this film, dominating every scene with her likeable but tough leading role. I have always been fond of Jennifer but even my friends who don’t normally watch her films have warmed to her in this.

The Mother gets caught between two moguls in an arms deal and tries to inform the police. At the start she is pregnant and we can only guess that one of these bad guys might be the father. Joseph Fiennes plays Adrian who is one of these deadly characters who is constantly in hot pursuit of J-Lo and eventually the daughter too.

The Mother helps an FBI agent who later makes it his job to keep an eye out for the daughter. He becomes an ally to J-Lo and does a lot to keep her informed and defend her too.

The daughter is adopted for her own protection. Zoe, played by Lucy Paez, has no idea about who her mother is but soon is put in danger and comes into contact with The Mother.

Will The Mother reveal her identity or can Zoe guess? Can The Mother keep her safe from the militia? Is Adrian the dad or Hector? You will have to watch to find out.

Positive Points

– Niki Caro did an excellent job of directing this fast paced story. She followed the live action Mulan movie with this juggernaut.

– There was a heart to this story. Stripped down, it was all about a relationship between a mother and her daughter. It brought a tear to my eye.

– The parts of the film based in Alaska at winter were breathtaking and the cinematography was great.

– Jennifer and Lucy had good chemistry and you believed J-Lo’s motivations for going to extremes.

– At 1 hour 55 mins the film still flew by as it was thrilling, intriguing and well acted.

Shortfalls

– Perhaps there could be slightly less violence and more dialogue. The script is great but I would have liked a little more balance.

Final Thoughts

This film is jam-packed with thrills. It is well written and has a good story arc. Jennifer is incredible in this role, where she obviously had to do a lot of physical preparation. The actress playing the daughter will no doubt appear in more high profile movies as she was excellent too.

Definitely check out ‘The Mother’ on Netflix and let me know what you think about this film in the comments.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my film review of ‘The Mother’. Perhaps also consider following my blog for future similar articles about movies, TV, books and climate change.