“Who’s praying for you?”

Story: After the death of his wife Khadijah, Latif finds himself trying to be both mother and father to his three children. With a teen, a tween, and an infant girl allergic to formula, it’s rough. With his past as an assassin for a powerful Muslim criminal overlord, it’s rougher. When his personal and past lives crash together in a brutal way, he has to take a stand. No matter how much he wants to become a new man.

Genre I’d put it in: Messages That Will Linger Movies
Release Date: 2026
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Original, with recognizable action beats and a powerful message religious films wish they could successfully convey.
Animals okay?: N/A
Special Shout-out: Adia, as Latif’s daughter Fatiha. She was amazing in Mike Flanagan’s The Midnight Club, but this is truly a deeply moving performance. I hope she gets even more roles she can sink into.

Gotta say: I saw this screener two weeks ago. And it was so powerful, I had to sit with it, because I couldn’t form the words to accurately encapsulate my response to this breathtaking film. So instead? I will fumble my way through, much the same way Latif does his life after his wife’s death. With the best of intentions, knowing full well I’ll probably miss some things along the way.

Many are saying that this film serves as a condemnation to Marvel. Mahershala Ali would have made an incredible Blade, and the incredible fight choreography here proves that. Well, yeah. Duh. Ali would have nailed it. And I’m just as pissed Marvel fumbled. These folks are absolutely right, but that’s ignoring the work Ali does as Latif right here, right now. It’s a powerful performance, and don’t be surprised if this gifts him with another Oscar. Man’s gotta have matching bookends, right? Absolutely.

Mother forces us to look at characters we have no interest in liking. In fact, as the first half of this film played out, I wondered why I was watching such hateful, awful people. Latif tries to be a better man, tries to walk away from his past, but as Michael Corleone put it, they keep pulling him back in. And Latif is a ruthless killer himself, someone that media literacy has viewers wanting to dislike, or at least be cautious of. However, writer/director Bassam Tariq has us sit with our discomfort and disgust with these characters, because that’s important to the ultimate message. Which is simple but powerful. Who deserves grace? And who decides?

Mother is unabashedly, unashamedly Muslim, and it’s amazing. I want more of this. The kindness of Latif’s mosque members. The laughter and joy of their children. The gentle power of it’s leader (Imam? I’m not sure) Abdul Malik, played by an always amazing Giancarlo Esposito. The quiet belief that grounds them, bringing them closer to each other, and to God. With so much current hate against Muslims, it’s a much needed look at individuals, families, and groups that are simply living their lives. Naturally, in an action film no group is completely beatific. But for me, those outliers simply drew a sharper focus on those characters being simply that. Outliers.

Tariq uses flashbacks to when Khadijah was still alive, focusing on the gentle hands she used to heal Latif, fix daughter Fatiha’s hair, and soothe her son Qadir. Cuts to other hands touching her body after death, anointing her with oil, preparing her for burial, shows how powerful her loss is for her family, and her community. Color grading and close-up shots drive that home. And of course, a cast that works together beautifully. Yeah, even the bad guys. John Cho as religious zealot Hwan Yoon, and Abubakr Ali as purveyor of “100% Halal” OnlyFans-esque content both deliver performances that could have been surface level, but have layers that may not have had me sympathizing with them, but I did see them as more than mustache-twirling baddies.

This film’s message of grace and mercy left me gobsmacked. It had me looking at my own life, and what/who I see as “righteous”. I’m sure that like Latif, I’ll make mistakes. I’m incredibly good at mistakes. But this film has me hoping I’ll second guess myself, at least sometimes. And that I won’t be the only one feeling this way. That makes Mother not only a good film, but an important one.

#Protip: From what I understand via The Internets? The title of this film comes from a hadith. If you don’t know it? You should probably not peek at it before you see this film, as how the quote concludes comes at a powerful moment in the film.