Mother/Android
After an android uprising suddenly and inexplicably turns the USA into a war-torn wasteland in which an EMP has all but wiped out technology, an expecting mother (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her boyfriend (Algee Smith) are forced to trek through the wilderness in search of safety before their child is born. From here, first-time feature filmmaker Mattson Tomlin’s Mother/Android descends into an overlong and overstuffed drama that has little going on.
Moretz gives a solid performance as a young mother with very few options. Her life was thrown into chaos the day she found out she was pregnant, and she has since tried to do the best she can for her unborn child. The best moments in this flick are simply her savouring little pockets of peace while she can, with Moretz’s committed performance selling each one of her character’s emotional beats. Punchy bursts of action likewise keep the weighty runtime from dragging for the most part, although the same cannot be said for the excruciatingly long ending.
There’s certainly a lot going on in the plot as the characters are thrown from one situation to the next. The main issue with this film is that there’s no substance to the events at hand: things just happen with no rhyme or reason. Even the catalyst for the plot springs out of nowhere with no explanation. The filmmaker has plenty of opportunities to try his hand at a variety of subjects, from humanity’s over reliance on technology to grief, family, war and survival (to name just a few). However, for whatever reason, the narrative moves swiftly on to the next plot point without so much as a second thought. By the end, it all seems rather pointless.
Though Moretz does everything in her power to lend some credibility to this bloated drama, the lack of thought behind the post-apocalyptic pregnancy makes for a dull viewing experience.
Andrew Murray
Mother/Android is released on Netflix on 7th January 2022.
Watch the trailer for Mother/Android here:
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