Mahershala Ali is the action hero we need – his new movie doesn’t do him justice

Mahershala Ali etches a tortured portrait of a grieving husband and devoted father in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, but I was left with one question. Where was all the action?

The new thriller from filmmaker Bassam Tariq hinges on an Islamic hadith, one of the cornerstones of a child’s religious upbringing.

I remember my own father telling me the tale more than once of the person who asked the Prophet (PBUH): ‘Who deserves our best?’ Three times the Prophet responds: ‘Your mother’ and, only on the fourth, does he say: ‘Your father’.

It’s meant to instil a reverence for your mother, often quoted in the same breath as another Islamic saying: ‘Paradise lies at the feet of a mother’. 

It makes sense, then, that the inciting incident of this movie – as we watch hitman Latif (Ali) casually chop down his first adversary – is the death of his wife. Or, rather, his children’s mother.

So what happens when an absent father, whose religious devotion is matched only by his skill as an assassin, is forced to take on this most sacred of duties? To rear your children as a mother would.

With his youngest still a newborn reliant on breastmilk to survive, Latif hangs up his dual-edged swords bathed in the blood of his client’s enemies, and instead begins the fervent hunt for milk for his wailing babe – a far more primal urge.

As we soon discover, however, you can’t just resign from being a hitman. Especially when dangerous men come knocking, expecting results, and don’t care about the three mouths you have to feed.

Acting toe-to-toe with Oscar winner Mahershala is the eldest daughter, fated to step into the shoes of her dead mother, Faith (Adia), who provides a shoulder for her father to rest on and is the one most burdened with worry for her family.

We’re tens of minutes into the movie when I notice that we’re yet to see Latif in action, and it is gratifying when it does come. Yet I couldn’t help but feel even then that we could have had more.

The pacing of the movie lets it down the most; there are lengthy sequences filled with a plodding plot progression that could be enough to put you to sleep if you let your mind wander, broken up by scant action scenes that feel more like a tick-box exercise than a meaningful part of the plot. 

It’s also difficult to fully comprehend Latif’s relationship with being a professional killer since we’re coming in at the end of the line when he’s ready to leave it behind and concentrate on providing for his family in other ways.

It makes the violence seem begrudging, and I would have enjoyed seeing more exploration of his deadly career through the lens of his religion. Instead, these two fundamental parts of his life feel achingly separate.

As with any movie of this nature, it culminates in a final epic showdown, which is executed well enough, although it does whack you over the head with the profound, deeper message about fatherhood and divinity instead of trusting the audience to read between the lines.

By the end, I couldn’t help but feel that the thriller aspect of this movie felt disjointed from the rest of it in an unsettling, slightly jarring way. For those who wished this could scratch the itch Mahershala’s exit from Blade caused, I’m not sure this will do the trick.

Instead, we see the quiet bubbling of potential throughout, without ever seeing it come to fruition. The movie has another urgent story about fatherhood it wants to tell, at the cost of Mahershala as the action hero.

Still, when you put the pacing issues and occasionally clunky plot aside, this is a compelling tale of devotion in all its forms that will no doubt add another notch to Mahershala’s decorated belt.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother premiered at BFI London Film Festival. It will be released in UK cinemas on November 20, 2026.

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