Review of Ma (2019) by Theredsky — 17 Jun 2019

This is another mixed bag for me. There a lot of problems with this film. Here are the negatives. The teenage actors did not do a good job. All 5 of them had no emotion in their performances and delivered their lines as boring as possible and their characters are uninteresting.

Although the concept for the film is good, the film has a problem like Brightburn. The story feels very basic and the film doesn’t do anything interesting with its concept. Some aspects of the story can feel dumb at times and the first 15 minutes are boring.

The film does have a pacing issue also. Sometimes the film is slow while other times, it moves quickly. Here are the positives. The adult actors do a decent job. Luke Evans does a great job and Octavia Spencer steals the spotlight in every scene she is in.

Her performance is by far the best thing about this movie. Her performance is worth seeing the movie. This film along with Brightburn knows how to build tension very well. You always feel this overwhelming sense of dread until the film comes to a head at the climax.

There isn’t a lot of gore in this film but when it is used, it is used effectively and makes you feel uncomfortable which is what the film is going for. There are some genuinely funny moments in this film even if that wasn’t what the scene was going for.

The cinematography is good in some areas and the tone does remain consistent throughout the film. The film also has a nice anti bullying message that is very evident by the end of the film. Overall, Ma provides some good acting from the adults and a nice message but fails to provide something more than its concept.

I give Ma a 3/10.