Film Review – The Mother (2023)

Jennifer Lopez spent the last year and change trying to play up her viability as a romantic comedy star, softening for the films “Marry Me” and “Shotgun Wedding,” going matrimonial and silly as a way to preserve her acting career. Now there’s hardness with “The Mother,” which turns Lopez into a killing machine in the tale of an ex-military parent doing whatever she can to protect her daughter from advancing villains. The star has a capable director in Niki Caro, who recently managed big-budget action in 2020’s “Mulan,” and the helmer offers serviceable work here, aiming to create a mash-up of Bourne and Bond with screenwriters Misha Green, Andrea Berloff, and Peter Craig. “The Mother” is limited by miscasting and strange storytelling choices, but physical activity is lively in the picture, with Lopez (and her stunt doubles) trying to bring some intensity to the effort, which works best during its most aggressive moments. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com