Besides somehow being both a misleading and completely apt title, Mother/Android is a decidedly character and drama-driven sci-fi robo-pocalypse. It gets there through a noticeably low budget and disinterest in world building or explanations.

It seems all the helpful human-like androids decided the Three Laws of Robotics were a whole lot of unnecessary bother and rose up to kill all the humans. Chloe Grace Moretz plays a wildly pregnant woman who is looking for a way through the robot front lines to safety in Boston before she pops.

This film plays out at a leisurely, low-fi pace, more focused on its characters and the day to day of survival. It’s far less focused on providing action set pieces or, frankly, much back-story and explanation. The film has almost no interest in telling the audience about the end of the world. I suspect that’s their intent though; Just follow the survivors through with just enough world-building to move the story forward.

Fair enough, I suppose. It then behooves them to have good enough characters to fill in the gaps. And the movie does struggle at that at times. The acting is fine and the writing serviceable so I was reasonably engaged but they probably needed to give us a little bit more.

The few moments of action are a mixed bag. There’s a very good infiltration sequence that is genuinely tense and even a little horrific. But what stands for the big action set piece near the end lacks clarity and believability while also begging too many questions the movie doesn’t feel like answering.

But the final sequence is a real acting moment for Moretz and is generally the beating heart and thesis statement for the movie. And I thought it worked quite well. It gives Moretz enough drama that we can believe that she ultimately passes through and becomes a stronger, more determined woman on the other end.

I liked enough of this film to give it a cautious recommendation. It may not be fast paced enough for its big sci-fi premise, but it does a very good job as an actor’s film. And a pretty decent attempt at low-budget big idea film making. It’s pretty good.

Score: 78