'The Mother' is as unoriginal and uninspired as you think

An unnamed sniper (Jennifer Lopez) escapes the clutches of her former comrades, arms dealer Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) and SAS soldier Adrian (Joseph Fiennes) while heavily pregnant. After spending twelve years in hiding and relinquishing her daughter Zoe (Lucy Paez) to adoptive parents, she is forced back into action when Hector kidnaps Zoe in an act of revenge...

If that description seems generic and unoriginal, it doesn't stop there. 'The Mother' frequently cops setpieces from other, better action movies. There's a foot chase through the streets of Havana - actually Gran Canaria, but hang enough Cuban flags around and it'll pass - that's copied from 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. During that set piece, Jennifer Lopez's character goes flying over the hood of a car while on a motorcycle. You've seen Tom Cruise do that exact same stunt in 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout'. Later, we see her character empty out a building of goons with a sniper rifle in quick fashion, set to the sounds of Massive Attack's 'Angel'. The only way you could use a song in a more obvious way is if you used Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah' during a scene of personal anguish.

What's so frustrating about 'The Mother' is not how completely unimaginative it is, how it's straight-up robbing from other action movies, or how it's just taking up space on Netflix before being flushed down into its library and being totally indicative of the content churn of streaming today. It's how it squanders a perfectly good opportunity for Jennifer Lopez to do something unique. In recent years, Lopez has branched out in small fashions and it's paid off real dividends. 'Hustlers' was an excellent turn, directed with real gusto by Lorene Scafaria and saw Lopez access darker shades in herself to get there. Here, however, it's all so hamfisted, so bland, so completely devoid of any kind of artistry or craft that it just falls flat.

Joseph Fiennes is, naturally, hamming it up as the insanely British villain while Gael Garcia Bernal has a wig at one point. Omari Hardwick is acted off the screen at every point, and the great character actor Paul Raci has all of maybe two scenes and nothing to do or say. You've even got Edie Falco, one of the most gifted and versatile actors working today, turning up to spout exposition in one scene and then disappears entirely. The waste of the cast assembled here is borderline criminal.

Niki Caro is just completely unsuited to directing action, and given how uninspired her live-action adaptation of 'Mulan' was, you'd think she might be able to flourish without the restrictions of a Disney movie. Instead, there is no sense of style or presence here at all. It's just recycled garbage, as if you asked an AI to make a 'Taken'-style movie with Jennifer Lopez. It's not like Caro can't direct either, or make something original. 1998's 'Whale Rider' and 2017's 'The Zookeeper's Wife' are both evidence of this, yet taking on something as bland as this seems like it's a waste of talent.

Given the burn rate of Netflix movies, chances are 'The Mother' will disappear off your home screen in a week and be completely forgotten in a month's time. Best for everyone to draw a line underneath it and move on.