Ma(2019)

Ma(2019) 

Well, this is one of those movies where one actor is so good that it brings the rest of the material to be passable.  Octavia Spencer is the best thing about this picture.  It starts out as more of a stalker thriller and morphs into a horror movie with some torture porn.  While the "teen" actors are rather bland and annoying at times, some of the adult actors bring the material up a few notches.  Ma isn’t a great movie, but an okay one on a limited level.  

I understand what the movie is trying to say about bullying and the bullied.  Many people that were bullied become bullies themselves.  This is an interesting concept due to our current environment.  Ma is a person that is so damaged by her bullying and teasing that she never grew up out of high school.  Spencer does an amazing job showing this stunted nature.  With this insight into her plights in high school, Spencer is the best thing about the movie.  She shows her twist from being a sad woman trying to cling on to some young people to a menacing angry person.  It gets even worse when she takes her revenge on the second generation of people her peers.  In other words, she takes on the children of the bullies.   

Ma does some things here that even I was shocked by, but Spencer's expressions and acting are the best things about the movie.  Forget the young kids.   

-The R-Rating is earned toward the third act:  Literally, the movie shifts gears and goes into the cruel territory.  You get close up of a penis and threats of dismemberment.  Someone gets completely run over and we get to see their bloody body motionless.  There is torture  

-Is Diana Silvers the daughter of Anne Hathaway?:  Damn, these two ladies look just alike.  They both have that doled-eyed look and that toothy expression.  It is uncanny how much they look like daughter and mother.   

-While the third act has some intense moments and leaning toward horror, the movie falls apart in the final minutes:  It feels like the production ran out of cash and decided to pull its punches.   

-Missing scenes and subplots?:  It seems there are a few key subplots missing from the overall movie. Clearly, there was more for Juliette Lewis to do than what is in the final cut.   

-Juliette Lewis:  Man, she is looking rough.  I guess those Scientology classes are taking its toll on her.  Damn.   

Ma isn't a terrible movie.  Granted, certain characters have to behave a way for the plot to happen precisely like it should.  The moral of the bullied becoming the bully is a noteworthy and entertaining thing to watch.  The plan set forth by Ma wasn't a Joker style set of plates spinning.   

Grade:  C+