Mahershala Ali's Shelved Blade Training Became Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a Story About Fatherhood

Mahershala Ali and director Bassam Tariq were both set to bring Blade back to the big screen before the Marvel reboot stalled out. Rather than let all that sword training go to waste, the two teamed up for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, a film that puts Ali’s action chops front and center while keeping the focus on something far more intimate: a father raising three kids alone after losing his wife.

Ali plays Latif, a Houston Muslim assassin whose newborn is allergic to formula, which means he’s sourcing breast milk while also navigating a conflict with John Cho’s Pastor Hwan Yoon, an Iraq War veteran turned cult leader. The film has been called a Muslim John Wick, and the fight scenes deliver, but the real weight comes from Latif’s grief and his struggle to fill a role nobody else can. Tariq drew on his own experience sourcing milk for his newborn while his wife was hospitalized, and that personal history shows in every frame.

The film arrives at a moment when Muslim characters are too often asked to represent an entire faith. Here, they get to be specific, flawed, and human. It also makes the case that this might be the best performance of Ali’s career. Have you seen it yet, and does it live up to the hype?