You have your rape-revenge thriller from the brutally grotesque cult classic Meir Zarchi’s 1978 film I Spit on Your Grave to the more subtle variations. Mom is a milder version of a revenge drama in which a mother avenges the rape of her teenage daughter. Is Mom worth your time? Let’s find out in the Mom film review.
After a night of partying at a friend’s farmhouse, a sweet young girl falls prey to some druggies who forcibly escort her and molest her. As a result, she lands up in the hospital, and her stepmom, Devki, takes it upon herself to bring the rapists to justice after the court acquits them. In this, Devki seeks help from a private detective, and the story pretty much plays out as you would expect it. Perhaps, I should mention here that the daughter doesn’t recognize Devki as her mother and calls her ma’am instead. Obviously, if Devki can nail the culprits who harrowed her daughter, the latter will see this as a great gesture and hopefully acknowledge her as her mother.
Now, if ever there was a cliched story, then here’s one. What could partly salvage it is perhaps above average acting performances and some creativity from behind the camera. While Sridevi as the stepmom is convincing and plays her role with aplomb, credit must also be given to Nawazuddin Siddiqui who is the private detective. He adds much zest to the movie. Sajal Ali as the victim of the viciousness of a few stray party hounds is thoroughly refreshing.
A few of the scenes are noteworthy. When the kidnapped girl is driven around the empty roads in a car, the overhead long-shot with a pulsating soundtrack is brilliant. The movie lacks more scenes like this.
The modus operandi of the stepmom to avenge her daughter’s rape is not entirely satisfying. If she is not your ordinary mom, then why not spice things up a bit. The movie is a 2017 film but feels dated in many parts. There needed to be much more use of music, creatively of course, and oodles of out-of-the-box thinking from the protagonist to make it more tantalizing. The private detective is useful, but all he does is pass information to the stepmom, who then uses it to get to the target. Pretty banal, eh?
By the way, I almost forgot to mention that Akshaye Khanna, the cop pursuing the case, although persistently good with his acting, is let down by the script that offers him barely anything. The same goes for Adnan Siddiqui who portrays the supportive dad.
The last act of this movie takes it a step back as it all seems so fabricated. The focus on the villain is much more than desired, and with it, the film squanders away any last chance of redeeming itself. While all this is happening, the audience knows what is coming, and that is the greatest undoing for this film. There aren’t any forks in the story. It plays out just like you would imagine. Simply put, the mom taking revenge on the daughter’s behalf doesn’t work as planned, and it could have as well been the victim of the brutal rape putting the misdoers to justice. What’s more important here is the manner in which the revenge is executed and that had to be inventive, but it doesn’t come across as such in this film.
All the dogged acting is to no avail in this repetitive story, and frankly, I would recommend to wait it out until it comes on cable.
Mom film review gives Mom 2 out of 5 stars.
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