Written by Andreas Babiolakis

Warning: This review is for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, which is a film presented at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. There may be slight spoilers present. Reader discretion is advised.

Image courtesy of the Toronto International film Festival.

Mahershala Ali was deprived of being Marvel icon Blade for almost a decade, and we — the audience — were deprived accordingly. Ali has been outspoken about how badly his career was affected by the constant delays of the Blade production — how he had to pause his career because of the hectic Marvel schedule, how he moved his family to Atlanta for a job that never materialized, and how he had to forfeit many top notch prospects despite being a back-to-back two-time Academy Award winner (for Moonlight and Green Book — both Best Picture winning efforts where Ali won Best Supporting Actor). We can finally see a hint of what Ali as ass-kicking Blade could have looked like in a film directed by the intended filmmaker for the abandoned project. Bassam Tariq (known for his breakthrough film Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed), infuses Muslim culture, spirituality, and identity into his motion pictures, and the aptly titled Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother only doubles down on this ethos. Named after the hadith in which Prophet Muhammad responds thrice that "your mother" is the most deserving of honour before finally responding "your father", Tariq's latest film puts a spin on the quote and finds an action film buried within a family drama — one with a newly-deceased mother and wife, and a hitman father who has to step in as both parents now.

Latif (Ali) has strayed away from his faith, especially after the passing of his wife (he asks Allah how life is fair and just, and yet his wife dies and leaves their three children — including an infant — behind). His first mission is to ensure that his trio of kids are now taken care of, and he runs into his first road block: his youngest needing breast milk (the infant cannot stomach formula). He must search for some. However, this is not the only family that needs him. His criminal connections still want him to do that one last job (is this not always the case with such action films); I at least believe this cliche more in the context of Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, seeing as Tariq does a great job of establishing Latif's stature in the underworld even with very little information and resources (also, Ali being one of the best actors of his generation also helps). His boss's nephew, Hatty (Abubakr Ali) is an irresponsible runt of a spoiled child who is being targeted by a Christian extremist, Hwan Yoon (John Cho); the latter accuses the former of human trafficking, even though Hatty is merely in the porn industry and his mansion acts as a sex dungeon of sorts (nonetheless, Hwan wans to “cleanse” the mansion). Latif is to wipe out Hwan and his posse. At this point, Latif is tired of the bloodshed — he already was. Him missing his wife's death (while fulfilling another hit) and his children now needing a parent acts as the final straw. Latif wants to quit this life for good.

I appreciate how much of what transpires in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother isn't simply because Latif wants to quit this life. Tariq ensures to sell the idea that evil will always exist and permeate, and it would have circled around Latif whether he played ball or not. It is up to him if he wants to swim, or if he wants to be swallowed up by the whirlpool. He kind of does neither. He attacks only in self defense or when absolutely necessary (and, when he does, you will be furious at the Blade film you'll never get — Ali treats action choreography like an operatic dance, and it's beautiful to see). He neither dives right back in hypocritically or cowardly stops defending his family. This makes for an interesting question throughout the film: when do Latif's actions stop being about what has to be done for the greater good, and when do they indicate that he is a sinful man? I believe that everyone's answer will differ from one another.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is quite a ride for most of its run time. It is as exciting as it is hilarious (Tariq's ability to tap into Gen Z mentalities without seeming like an out-of-touch elder is noteworthy in and of itself). Katelin Arizmendi's cinematography renders the entire film a candy-coated trip that will make you believe that this film is Amazon MGM Studios' answer to the A24 aesthetic (this film is definitely a sweetened feast for the eyes). I cannot forget Son Lux's score that will make any fans of Everything Everywhere All at Once happy to hear an encore here. For a majority of the film, Tariq balances the spiritual conquest (of a man who has been challenged against his faith far too many times, and his family who wants him to return to it) with the tropes of a hip action flick with catch phrases and shocking moves. So much of Tariq's writing for ninety percent of the film is tight, with even the smallest of gags and weird occurrences (down to.... furry porn?!?) popping up for callbacks or well-crafted purposes down the line.

Then comes the absolute ending of the film, which I do not want to spoil outright, but I must point it out because it did sully Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother for me quite a bit. This has nothing to do with me not being a practitioner of the same religion (or of any); this could have been any denomination, community, or atheistic realization. The blueprint of this ending has nothing to do with my issue with it. A deus ex machina is a deus ex machina. In a film that deals with body counts quite seriously (and how realistically people can die or be killed), you are meant to buy into a miracle. I can see why many can, but for me it was too much. If better handled, I feel like Tariq's point would have worked. However, the quick resolution after said impossible occurrence just doesn't work for me. You have to simply accept that things can happen, and that's that. This is the same film where Latif was wondering why his wife dies — if the answer is "[insert higher power] works in mysterious ways", that might work for the daily lives of the spiritual, but it doesn't work as the lone pivot point in a story. I suppose this is meant to be Latif's doorway back into the Muslim faith, but, again, this could have been done in a way that makes more sense narratively (like — and I will try not to spoil here — waking up a few days later in a medical facility after the dust has settled, or something in the vein of The Revenant). This is the only time the film came off as a faith-based picture: the kind that forgoes rationality in favour of sending a message about devotion.

Then again, this could be more of an action film problem: the idea that the protagonist will always come out on top no matter what you throw their way. Even though Tariq was accomplishing the difficult task of juggling both religious and action storytelling with pure ease for nearly two hours, it's as if he surrendered to both sides at once in the final five minutes. I have a feeling that many of you viewers (and readers) will disagree with how I feel about this conclusion, but believe me when I say that I am not reacting with haste; having waited over a week to marinate on how I feel, I still feel confused (maybe I will feel differently in a more distant future). Here is a film that is mostly great that almost throws it all away in the blink of an eye — with the kind of ending that feels incredibly cliched and improbable in a film full of subversions and inspired choices. If you are arguing that the ending is one that matches the film’s religious themes, it still almost feels antithetical in that respect: like all of the lessons that came before it can be scrubbed away — just like the sins paired up with these awakenings — via the act of prayer (something that didn’t help in the film until this very point). Religion is based on faith, and you also have to trust your audience to have it; such an ending not only begs for suspension of disbelief in the film’s final moments — it almost insinuates that an audience cannot handle anything other than a divine intervention to resolve an impossible situation (rather than the many other excellent solutions throughout the story that precede this moment). Everything that comes before this sequence (including the first half of this very sequence) results in one of the freshest takes on an action film I have seen in years. In a motion picture where you can see Ali pulling off some sensational stunts, I cannot stress enough how I wish Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother stuck its landing.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.