MOTHER/ANDROID
(director/writer: Mattson Tomlin; screenwriter: ; cinematographer: Patrick Scola; editor: Andrew Groves; music: Michelle Birsky/Kevin Henthorn; cast: Chloe Grace Moretz (Georgia), Algee Smith (Sam), Raul Castillo (Arthur), Steve M. Robertson (Prisoner), Kate Avallone (Dr. Howe), Linnea Gardner (Sarah), Kiara Pichardo (Lisa), Oscar Wahlberg (Derrick), Christian Mallen (Kevin), Jared Reinfeldt (Connor), Liam McNeil (Daniel), Stephen Thorne (Eli); Runtime: 110; MPAA Rating: R; producers; Bill Block, Rafi Crohn, Adam Kassan, Charles Miller, Matt Reeves, Mattson Tomlin: Hulu/Miramax; 2021)
“The pic failed to impress, but I take my hat off to Chloë Grace Moretz for giving it her all over this hokum.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A dystopian sci-fi thriller set in the near future, that reminds us we’re all programmed to survive It’s written and directed by first-timer Mattson Tomlin.
Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz) is a pregnant college student unsure about how she feels about boyfriend Sam (Algee Smith). The country at this time becomes a war zone when the androids occupying many of the luxury homes, like Georgia’s, suddenly turn murderous that night.
The film tells its odd story nine months after that eventful night. Survivors take shelter in military camps that pop up all over the country. The use of electromagnetic transmitters acts as a protector against the androids. With the couple’s birth of its baby overdue, they hope to leave Boston for Korea. What stands in their way. is a wilderness ahead called, “No Man’s Land,” a place where bad films like this one usually get lost in. In the wilderness they encounter hostile soldiers and bloodthirsty robots.
Hey, it’s a robot apocalypse with unpleasant androids creeping around and no one around who can tell us why this is happening (though by this time into the film I could care less and never felt any of this made too much sense to matter. As for how America can save itself, that’s also up in the air (but if that thought is directed away from the film’s metaphor to the real world, I think it’s imperative we save our democracy by fighting off those crazed Republicans and Fox News propaganda machine who are trying their best to turn the country into a fascist state by stopping people from voting).
We’re left wondering if Georgia can save her family from the cyborgs. I hate to sound as if I’m a bad guy, but I really could care less. The pic might have started out as if it could be a winner but turns into a loser before you can say androids.
The pic failed to impress, but I take my hat off to Chloë Grace Moretz for giving it her all over this hokum.
REVIEWED ON 12/28/2021 GRADE: C