Ma is a movie that takes an unexpecting and refreshing turn. I thought that this movie was going to be completely different based on the trailers but to my surprise, this movie was a lot different and felt quite unique at times. Even with it taking the unexpected turn the movie is still very boring after I'd say the first 10-15 minutes. Like the twist is only unexpected based on what the trailers presented but after the first 10-15 minutes, your gonna be able to figure out exactly where this film is going and because of that it becomes very predictable.
I also think they did a great job at creating the character Sue, most times she doesn't come off as a psychopath and more of a tortured soul who's been put through a lot and creates this weird element of sympathy for the character which I believe really works for this movie. Also having an incredible performance from Octavia Spencer also made this film a lot more watchable and honestly she was the only reason I felt any bit of emotional investment into this film. Just about everyone else in this film was pretty subpar for the most part. Also in terms of actual horror and being thrilling this movie does fail, for the most part, it really wasn't scary at all and for the most part, it was at most just really creepy from time to time.
I do think they could have handled the backstory of Ma a lot better and had more build-up to it, the way it was handled sadly was very obvious and it does ruin a lot of the second half of this movie.
I did like the ending to this movie, though there was definitely some way over the top moments that threw me off but introducing ma's daughter was a great addition to make me start really rooting for everyone to get out safely. I also think that it was a smart move to have all the teens to survive because the movie is more about how the parents affected her so it didn't take the focus off of that storyline. The second half of this movie a huge rollercoaster in terms of quality. It has some great moments and then it has some horrible moments.
I do think that the writers made some questionable decisions regarding Ma's actions in the film, like her bedroom and essentially her obsession is revealed that pretty much confirms that she was specifically targeting the kids of the parents that hurt her but she also leers other underage kids to her house and buys them alcohol which opposite of what they were building to. Yet, I still love that scene where the frat kids throw the beer at Ma and we see the amount of pain in her building up to that interaction, even if I think it was unnecessary for the actual movie it was handled so well that I will give the movie a pass.
At the end of the day, Ma is a film that had a ton of potential to be great, but sadly the movie has too many flaws to ignore and loses the excitement of watching the movie very early on. Despite many great moments, a fantastic main character and an incredible performance from Octavia Spencer Ma managed to continuously fall apart right after they add something or do something even minorly interesting. Even with the interesting backstory, they do such a bad job at handling it that it actually loses the interesting aspect it brought to the film.
Rating: 5.7/10