“Don’t underestimate Latif.”
Mahershala Ali is stepping into a very different kind of action role.
Amazon MGM Studios and Orion Pictures have released the official trailer for Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, the upcoming action drama from writer-director Bassam Tariq, and Ali looks ready to remind audiences exactly what he can do when given the chance to get physical.
The film follows Latif, played by Ali, a devoutly religious former hitman and father of three whose life is upended after the unexpected death of his wife. Suddenly navigating grief, fatherhood and his faith as a single parent, Latif is determined to keep his children safe — even if it means returning to the violent life he left behind.
Set in Houston, the film follows Latif as he moves across the city trying to provide for and protect his children while former bosses, enemies and people from his past begin closing in. The cast also includes John Cho, Abubakr Ali, Laith Nakli, Tramell Tillman, Tiffany Boone, Giancarlo Esposito, Adia and Jahleel Kamara.
The trailer shows Latif attempting to create some semblance of normalcy for his family. But with an infant who needs his mother’s milk, bills to pay and limited options, survival quickly becomes complicated. His efforts to stay away from his former life ultimately prove difficult, forcing him back into a world of violence.
And yes, Latif knows how to handle a blade.
The film blends action and crime thriller elements with a deeply personal story about grief, faith, fatherhood and what a person is willing to sacrifice to protect the people they love.
Ali previously described Latif as “the most honest and complicated character I’ve read in a script,” adding that Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother was “exactly the kind of movie I’ve been wanting to make.”
That sentiment makes the project particularly interesting given Ali’s long journey with Marvel’s Blade.
Ali was attached to play Eric Brooks, the vampire hunter better known as Blade, for years, with Tariq originally attached to direct the Marvel project. Tariq eventually departed the film, while the long-delayed Blade continued through numerous changes before ultimately failing to move forward with Ali.
Ali recently made it clear that he has stopped waiting for the project.
Speaking with GQ, the two-time Oscar winner reflected on the experience and said, “For whatever reason, that project is not for me. If they wanted to do it, we would’ve done it. So I have to move on, and I have moved on.”
And perhaps that’s what makes Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother so intriguing.
This isn’t Blade. Latif isn’t a supernatural vampire hunter. But the film gives Ali an opportunity to headline an original, physically demanding action story — while allowing him to bring the dramatic complexity that has defined much of his career.
In fact, Latif may be a more complicated action protagonist precisely because his fight isn’t simply about defeating an enemy. He’s trying to keep his family alive while wrestling with his grief, his faith and the violent history he’s spent years trying to escape.
Tariq wrote and directed the film, with Lucan Toh and Babak Anvari producing alongside him. Brian O’Neill also serves as an executive producer.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before opening in select theaters September 25 and expanding nationwide in October.
And after years of hearing about what Mahershala Ali’s Blade might have looked like, we’re finally getting to see the Oscar winner unleash that action-star energy in a completely different story.
And judging from this trailer? Latif is definitely not somebody you want to underestimate.