Jennifer Lopez has brought Netflix good cheer, at least in terms of numbers. ‘The Mother’, the action film he starred in and produced for the stage, is already a success: on the day it was released, it was number one in 83 countries and clocked 83.7 million hours in its first week. See, that’s a better opening than ‘Criminals in Sight’ (64.4 million) and even ‘Glass Onion’ (which grossed 82.1 million in its first week). However, a good section of critics have preferred to give it a good slap with the open hand. But is it really that terrible or has it become a hobby of many to give the singer a hard time every time she makes a film? Is this movie, in which we also get to see Joseph Fiennes and Gael García Bernal, worth watching, or do we save it?
What is it about ‘Mama’?
The Mother is not only the title of the film, but also the way we’ll meet Jennifer Lopez’s character, as her name is never mentioned. And, obviously, she’s a mother and that has weight in the story. She is an ex-military officer who briefly had professional and romantic entanglements with an arms dealer, but tried to distance herself from him by becoming pregnant. Her partners and lovers will not let her get away and follow her until the opening sequence of the story, when she is interrogated and attacked by the FBI. The result is that, after an explosion and childbirth, the mother must give her daughter up for adoption to protect her, although the FBI promises to contact her if things turn bad. And, when the time comes, of course they get boring. And there the plot of Jennifer Lopez to save her daughter and fight the bad guys opens.
The film is based on a story by Misha Green (who fans of the series will find as the creator of ‘Lovecraft Territory’), who signed on to script alongside Peter Craig (‘The Batman’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’) and Andrea Is. Berloff (“Straight Outta Compton”), while Niki Caro, writer of the acclaimed “Whale Rider” and the live-action version of “Mulan,” will direct. It wants to be a classic action movie, and occasionally pulls too much from some of the genre’s clichés, for better and for worse, for the greater glory of Jennifer Lopez in full star quality.
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And how is ‘mother’?
Carry on, this is not a film that is going to change anyone’s life nor is it intended to. ‘The Mother’ is solid and solvent, it’s well-directed and its script, though stereotyped from time to time (the persecution via Cuba could be put in any other film of the genre and no one would notice the difference) , so amusing that we don’t get bored of walking for two hours. Furthermore, it maintains the tone well: the characters have a dramatic weight and a seriousness that balances out the few elements introduced merely for the pleasure and enjoyment of the action, thus giving it some roots so that Don’t let the whole thing turn into a hilarious and unintentionally parodic opera.
It’s still a story that, moving some chips and replacing others, we’ve already seen a thousand times. It could be Liam Neeson’s film rescuing a daughter or countless Bourne transients. The big difference is that Jennifer Lopez is here to host like loaves of bread, and if this type of movie needs anything, she’s a stellar star (tell that to Tom Cruise). It’s true that Lopez’s acting career has been erratic to say the least, but I’m one of those people who would argue that it wouldn’t be unfair to see her nominated for an Oscar for ‘Wall Street Hustlers. One of ‘Mama’ isn’t the best interpretation of her (sometimes she goes too far with the steely gaze, although it’s also a talent to keep it without making a fool of herself), but it works well.
“A lot of ‘The Mother’ looks like a movie star rather than a tough, serious, tired heroine she thinks is playing a role. Lopez is quite the accomplished actress, so you wish she had something more to make up for it.” would have used an expressive revenge movie,” said David Fear in Rolling Stone. And she’s right, it may or may not be a problem with the film, depending on how you look at it, that beyond interpretation you always know you’re looking at Jennifer Lopez, Alaska with their hair that is unsuitable for hiding. For me, it’s not a fault, watching Jennifer Lopez giving milk is actually my biggest incentive for press play. If it was anyone else or worse, if it was a man, he probably wouldn’t have done it.
Álvaro Oniva I was born on Wisteria Lane, I was roommates with Hannah Horvath and ‘Chicago’ drove me crazy because I am Roxy Hart.
