The Mother – Film Review

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.

A wolf and her pack play a part in The Mother.

‘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.

Shotgun Wedding: Is It Worth The Hype?

It is hard for me to decide which film to watch next. My tastes are varied and one minute I am watching a thriller, the next a laugh-out-loud comedy. Not very often do I sit down to a Rom-Com but these are little indulgences from time to time.

Lately, I have seen a couple and both were really sweet, funny and kept me interested. Shotgun Wedding has been promoted on billboards in my city and pushed really hard as a Prime Video treat. These are my thoughts on this exciting new movie.

This is not J-Lo but it represents the cheesiness of Rom-Coms; a cheesiness I quite like.

In A Nutshell

This is a movie of two Jens: Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Coolidge. There is a guy in it too that I recognised but wasn’t sure why. He (Josh Duhamel) was due to marry J-Lo on an exotic Philippine island. Now, I do have a soft spot for Jennifer Lopez Rom-Coms and that is one of the reasons I popped it on. The question is – Was it any good?

Darcy (J-Lo) had a celebrity ex who showed up at her wedding randomly, in the guise of Sean, played by Lenny Kravitz. Her father was annoyed that he didn’t pay for the wedding and they had taken cheaper options, organised by husband-to-be Tom (Duhamel). It is fair to say there was some resentment between Tom, her father and Sean.

A mix of comedy, romance and action; This movie was really fun and quick paced. Moments of hilarity were often lit up by Coolidge but let’s not take away the jokes that J-Lo properly earned.

A dramatic twist of fate caused the wedding to be upturned by pirates. I’d better not give too much away. Suffice to say, adventure ensued and more comedy arose from it.

Favourite Elements

I was sure this film would entertain me but I hadn’t expected it to be such a witty production. It had me laughing out loud on multiple occasions.

Some of the positive points included:

– The script was fast and often really humorous

– Jennifer Lopez had moments of sweetness, of being a feisty action heroine and of playing the comedienne

– Jennifer Coolidge was hilarious as the mother of the groom

– The plot was exciting, if unrealistic

– The setting was lovely (with beautiful countryside and beaches)

– There were genuine hold-your-breath moments of action.

Negatives

– Some elements were predictable – although isn’t that always the case with Rom-Coms?

– They could have chosen a better actor for the father – he was a bit wooden

Final Thoughts

This Shotgun Wedding film popped up for free on Prime Video (assuming you are a member) and I checked it out. It was very funny and fast paced with great contributions from Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Coolidge. It was a good length (1 hour 40 minutes) which I consider the perfect movie duration.

So YES Shotgun Wedding is definitely worth the hype.

Rom-Com score ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a half

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Thank you for taking the time to read my movie review. I hope that you will check out Shotgun Wedding. Drop a comment of what you think of it.

For the review of a film I recently enjoyed, check my Empire of Light Film Review. I appreciate any support and if you follow my blog you will make my day.