This forgettable action thriller is thoroughly derivative.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 22, 2023

Lopez and Caro seem very much in sync as they relate the sprawling tale in a disciplined manner that maintains interest and curiosity, if not high levels of downright excitement.

| May 15, 2023

From scene to scene, Lopez and Caro do fill these broad outlines with real feeling, bringing a personal touch to old pulp archetypes.

| May 15, 2023

This is a come-for-Lopez, stay-for-Lopez endeavour, and she’s on fine, movie star form in this serviceable, if forgettable action thriller.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 15, 2023

But the action scenes are kinetic and explosive... and they help carry the film over its rocky narrative passages and its clunky visual effects. When Caro pulls the ripcord, and she pulls it often, The Mother comes alive.

| Original Score: B- | May 12, 2023

"The Mother" delivers a passable action film. If only it had resisted the mama drama.

| May 12, 2023

Lopez is an actor with a particularly deep set of skills. You wish she’d brought some more of her expressive ones to this revenge flick.

| May 12, 2023

Lopez translates her background as a dancer into gritty action choreography with the ease of a seasoned professional.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 12, 2023

A movie whose abundant action is either enhanced or undermined, take your pick, by its unintentional giggles. The kill count generally provides the requisite thrills, but everything else seems stitched together from genre clichés.

| May 12, 2023

Lopez can get away with things that other mere mortals can’t, and if you approach it in the right spirit, The Mother could be ridiculously good fun.

| May 12, 2023

So yes, this is a genre exercise and nothing else. But, to be fair, if you’re doing the thing, there’s a certain virtue to just unapologetically doing the thing.

| May 12, 2023

[Jennifer Lopez] makes beating up bad men look effortless and inspirational.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 12, 2023

Lopez has always been a force as a physical performer. And she has shown zero trace of slowing down in recent films such as “Hustlers” and “Shotgun Wedding.” But she stretches credulity here...

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 12, 2023

Better than average, as star-driven streaming features go.

| May 12, 2023

Forget this slovenly, opportunistic action. What Lopez deserves to star in is a new-world remake of "The Day of the Jackal."

| May 12, 2023

Lacking the velocity and excitement of an action movie and the reality of good drama, “The Mother” is the worst of both worlds.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 12, 2023

There’s some real ChatGPT film-making here in this abjectly formulaic and inert Netflix thriller from director Niki Caro, although ChatGPT would have made a better, clearer job of the muddled story.

| Original Score: 1/5 | May 12, 2023

One of the film’s guilty pleasures becomes anticipating when a mansplainer will get hushed.

| May 12, 2023

Jennifer Lopez and all the mothers out there deserve better than this gross, cringey gorefest about a military assassin (JLo) who makes up to the pre-teen daughter she gave up at birth by instructing her how to kill bad guys. Happy Mother’s Day, indeed.

| May 12, 2023

It’s decent but a tad too restrained for its own good.

| Original Score: C+ | May 12, 2023