The Mother is relentlessly dour flick that exists in two parts. One part is an uninteresting action thriller and the other is a slightly more interesting mother/daughter bonding story. The two halves fight with one another and the end result is a movie that’s not as engaging as it wants to be.

Jennifer Lopez stars as woman who has to give up her baby and go into hiding after crossing some very bad men. Twelve years later, she has to find and protect her daughter from these bad guys. Mother/daughter bonding through trauma and violence ensues.

This film is no fun. It’s literally humorless but, on top of that, it’s just not a very thrilling or exciting action movie. The mother/daughter bonding sequences contain some entertainment value. It’s grimly amusing watching this sour, bull-headed mom try to deal with her bleeding-heart “you killed Bambie’s mom” daughter. Their back and forths eventually breath a little life and humanity into the movie.

Lopez at first doesn’t seem to have a character beneath her stern, angry demeanor. But eventually I started to see the character behind the stern visage… and eventually the humanity. Lopez does a very good job of thawing and showing her emotional range.

Overall, this is kind of a boring, plodding, relentless movie. Some of the suspense and thrills work on occasion, the acting is good, and the cinematography is as stark and cold as Lopez is. But none of it works well enough to save the flick.

Score: 68