I Am Mother Quick View This Sci-Fi Thriller is a Straight up BANGER! Grade: B+

Source: IMDB

I Am Mother is a sci-fi thriller, about a daughter (Clara Rugaard) raised by a robot named mother (Rose Byrne). While civilization has crumbled to the ground, as it’s no longer safe to go outside. Trouble arrives at the door, as Woman (Hilary Swank) comes uninvited to Daughter and Mothers spaceship. I feel this film could’ve done more with the character Daughter. They could’ve explore her curiosity for human beings more, we see her watch a couple late night television interviews... But it doesn’t explore her mind to wondering about her own kind, where it would inspire her to wonder about the outside world. The character Woman becomes a bit of a mixed bag. At one hand you can see why she has a hatred for the droids, there’s no question why she would feel anger. On one hand you would think she’d try to somehow try to convince Daughter and Mother to stay on the ship, considering the fact it has a proper shelter, fresh drinking water, food, and other resources. I rather try to work with this one lone robot, instead of going back outside to a world where it’s clearly unsafe and nonexistent. There is a solid amount to praise about this small sci-fi film, I enjoyed it very much so. The Cinematography was great, a beautiful looking film with great production design as well, t’was wonderful to watch. I loved the designs of the robots. Mother is a well developed design of a robot, she looked pretty cool and charming. Mother was a solid character, easily the best character in the entire film. Her idea of human beings may sound cruel as it is, but you understand her motivation of why she felt this way, as she was correct in her theory about human beings. We assume she was a good mother, by the way she had taken care of Daughter, as she kept her well fed and taught her a fair amount of knowledge. But once the plot twist hit.... We soon realize Mother was indeed a monster. It’s a cool character because at one point you love this robot, then a second later you‘re terrified of her methods, but understand what her motivation behind those methods were. I liked the story, it was simple yet very effective. You can say it has the typical cliches you see from any other Sci-Fi robot thriller, but of course all is forgiven due to the film is doing something unique with the story telling. The ending is one that honestly surprises me. One hand you have an exciting epic conclusion, it was very fun what happens at the space ship. On the other hand... You have something to think about, as far as what this character will do as they head towards this other direction. It’s pretty cool the film maker wants us to puzzle in what this character perhaps might do, that was pretty neat. Overall, I Am Mother is a pretty good Sci-Fi Thriller that I actually really enjoyed. I recommend watching this film, it’s on Netflix now. I’m looking forward to whatever director Grant Sputore and writer Michael Lloyd Green have for us in the future, should be a promising career for both of them. -Mitch Smietana