The Mother

I Wouldn't have been surprised if Steven Segal just showed up and did a sit down flight scene with J-Lo.

It didnt take me long to realise the kind of film I was watching, and truthfully I only made it past the first act. Some scenes were straight up rip offs of other Hollywood films that did the same sequences much better. J-Lo got very annoying very quickly with her "Im a badass boss" attitude that didnt waiver long enough for me to get to know any other traits of her character. One straight face monotonous performance that got very cold very fast.

Netflix is smart, because they dont care about reviews, they know for a fact people are going to click on this film because its a click away, they know they will prolly make some money from this barely passable film.

It seems like every six months we get a regurgitated Netflix "original " film with a seasoned empowered female actress fighting off perpetrators. It's everything you've seen before. Can't imagine even the demographic it's aimed at will find anything new to enjoy about this. Netflix continues to dumb down its "original" content . At least conceive some kind of a ambitious script or do something. They literally think they can just put an actress In a C level John Wick rip off script and it will work out every time. At this point I don't think JLo star power is enough to overcome this blatant cliché offering.

The trailer is deceiving.

It led me to think I was gonna watch something to the tune of NOBODY. Instead we get this bad-ass lady (by way of narration by a law enforcement officer as to her past accolades) who does bad ass things early in the movie and suddenly, seemingly it all finished. Then soon audiences are reminded oh wait another bad guy still has his portion to get through.

Plotholes, cliches, mentorship in badassery to her kid that doesn't pay off and just poor writing makes for this incoherent action flick.

Sure Lopez has done some (better) action flicks in the past but this won't be the one she will be remembered by.

Jessica Chastain does a better job, Jennifer Garner, heck even Michelle Rodriguez too at being an onscreen bad-ass chick.

The only badass scene here really is when she rode that HD 48.

Such a dissapointment.

Yet another vanity project for Lopez, this time as an action hero with fur coats, and the same hair and makeup in pretty much every scene, even if the scenes are 12 years apart. This film needed a more versatile actress, one that would lose the long hair locks and have it messed up, one that could handle - and look convincing, with some dirt and scratches on her face, one who can show some facial expressions relevant to each scene, not the constant "ya I'm tough" expressionless look and tone.

Next we have a story that took three prolific writers who've written some great films and series in the past, to come up with a monotonous, repetitive, cliched and underwhelming screenplay with bits from many better films in this genre. The poorly paced nearly two-hour runtime felt much longer with many dragged out, unnecessary and predictable scenes. You know exactly what's going to happen, and you waste time watching it happen stretched out for so long, you can just fast-forward and not miss a thing. Top that all off with a director that decided to use a blurred fish-eye lens effect in some scenes, I thought I was having migraine episodes.

Had a more convincing actress been cast, it may have made the dull filmmaking a little more bearable, but combined all together, it's not the gift any mom would want for Mother's Day. It's a pass from me, and a very generous 6/10, all for the young Lucy Paez as Zoe, who was the only one that shined in this dull action thriller.

I don't know why but, since a decade now, and more than fifteen years after Luc Besson's NIKITA, back in 1990, no one can deny that there legions, batches of action flicks showing female fighters, fist, gun fighters. Women playing men's roles. Of course this kind of scheme was common in the American Indie industry during the seventies, remember the Grindhouse movies, destined for drive in audiences, Grindhouse or psychotronic, exploitation features taking advantage to the women's liberation movements that spread all over the country and even beyond.... Hollywood could not affaord to approve, so the independant movies did it instead. And also women's prison movies. It stopped during the eighties, for one decade, then it came back for a short while before appearing again since the 2010s and especially since the Harvey Weinstein affair and the feminist fashion that rapidly followed,spreading all over the world. Only now, the quality is a bit better, with once in a while a prestigious cast; here Jenny Lopez or a couple of years ago Jessica Chastain - AVA.... This movie is surprise less but efficient, a excellent time waster despite an expected ending.