Mother/Android ★★

Mattson Tomlin

Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Algee Smith, Raúl Castillo, Kiara Pichardo, Oscar Wahlberg

The first of the slipped-under-the-radar Netflix originals of 2022 has arrived, and this isn't even being promoted by the streaming service. This feels unfair; despite it being a familiar concept filled strange character choices, it still creates a level of tension that will grip casual viewers.

Chloë Grace Moretz plays Georgia, a young woman who found out she was pregnant right before an Android apocalypse. Alongside boyfriend Sam (Algee Smith), she journeys across the country to create as good of a start as possible for her soon to be newborn child.

The initial concept and execution of that concept is excellent, but as time goes on the script becomes weaker and struggles to know what to do with its characters, often cowering as a lesser entity to similar apocalyptic films that have come before it. The opening feels so real and genuine but towards the end most things feel unrealistic and unnecessarily dark.

Mother/Android is genuinely tense and always dramatic, but often feels like it's making things up as it goes along, never landing a clear message and pulling at heartstrings for the sake of it. I labelled it as an easy watch for casual viewers, but this is not a breezy happy-go-lucky kind of Netflix original.

Mother/Android available now on Netflix