Marvel fans who, like me, desperately wanted to see Mahershala Ali as the vampire hunter, Blade, will want to check out Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother because it gives you a taste of what might have been. An action flick that finally gives Ali and one-time Blade director Bassam Tariq a chance to finally strut their stuff. While it has considerably more on its mind than just butt-kicking, such as questions of faith and duty, it feels damn good to see Ali out there in all-black, wielding a blade and fighting for something he believes in.
Ali stars as Latif, a devout Muslim living in Houston with his wife and three children, including a newborn daughter. Latif, a quietly forceful man, is also a hitman. We meet him as he’s engaged in a bloody bathroom brawl that ends sloppily. But it ends that way for a reason; Latif gets a call that his wife and the kids’ mother has suddenly died. This turns his world upside down, as he’s now the sole caretaker and provider. Worse, he is running out of his wife’s breast milk, and the baby won’t take formula. What begins is a furious dash around the city to find more milk, and to be a good father at a time when his children need him home more than ever.
Complicating matters are Latif’s religious duties, which he begins to disregard as his faith is shaken. Even worse, his former boss is looking for payback and needs Latif to rescue his nephew, a Hallal pornographer (seriously, it’s funny), from the hit list of a gun-toting cult leader, Kwan, played by a scene-chewing John Cho in a performance that’ll make you forget about Harold & Kumar. Kwan has gathered his own following by preaching about his own righteous cause, forcing Latif to question the strength of his convictions.
The sight of Ali, carrying a satchel of breast milk in one hand, and a weapon in the other, is pretty awesome. This is probably about as close as we’re going to get to seeing Ali as Blade, so fans should soak it up. There aren’t as many fight scenes as there could be, but it’s definitely more than some might expect. What we do get is pretty incredible, with Ali a powerful force, quick and deadly, and on a couple of occasions showing the remarkable agility that made Wesley Snipes so convincing. He’s also got the dark sense of
More than his physicality, Ali impresses in the more dramatic moments, as Latif struggles with the violent acts he commits every day, flying in the face of the teachings he wants to instill in his kids. The performance reminded me of Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog: The way of the Samurai, a film that also grappled with faith and personal codes of honor. Latif is challenged at every turn by his eldest daughter who has been forced to grow up before her time; by his friend and sheikh, played by Giancarlo Esposito, who warns him about bringing danger into the community; and also by his brother, played by Tramell Tillman, a successful doctor who has left the Muslim teachings behind to start a new life.
Incredibly, Tariq based Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother on a personal experience from years ago, where he, too, was a new father left scrambling to find his baby some breast milk when his wife became ill. As far as I can tell, Tariq didn’t do it armed with a machine gun and sword. However, the urgency that’s written into those early scenes, the desperation driving Latif, comes from a place that few will ever understand.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a title that becomes clearer along the way (but should still probably be shortened), delivers impactful action in an immersive world that this genre rarely explores. Latif is constantly running in and out of mosques, stopping to pray, hitting up a brothel, picking up the kids from school, and so much more. You’re constantly wondering where he might have to go next, what new enemy he must face, what new challenge he must endure as a parent, figuring it out as he goes along.
We might not ever get to see Ali and Tariq on a Blade movie together, and that sucks, but they’re making a statement with Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother that it’s our loss. While I could’ve used fewer lulls between the most violent sequences, it blends religion and action in a powerful, entertaining package that will hopefully be the first of many movies from this duo.
Amazon MGM releases Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother on September 25th.
