There are certain movies that follow a familiar formula, yet because of its intangible differences elevate the world that these characters inhabit, they stand out at least a wee bit. That is certainly the case with the Jason Momoa starring revenge actioner Sweet Girl, which also stars (Dora the Explorer, Spirit Untamed) as his daughter, Rachel.
The Cooper family has been through the wringer with the cancer death of the family’s matriarch, Amanda (Adria Ajorna) that thanks to the shelving of a generic (i.e., affordable) lifesaving drug, has perished, and left a family destroyed. After the love of his left succumbs to her death sentence, on live TV, Momoa’s Ray Cooper threatens the CEO of a big pharmaceutical company with killing him with his own hands. Justin Bartha’s Simon Kelley paid to have the generic drug shelved, permanently.
Years pass in the Cooper’s life and they are adjusting to life without Amanda. It’s tough, but life must be lived for the living. Ray has a daughter to raise and that takes precedent over justice. Then something extraordinary occurs. An extremely paranoid reporter says he has evidence of payoffs and cover-ups by the pharmaceutical company and that Ray’s familial story still pushes this story to the front page. Despite some major misleading coming and going, the two finally meet and think they are alone. Wrong, Rachel and an assassin. Well, assassins. The family must go on the run, immediately.
This is where Sweet Girl follows a similar path, but it has something special working for it that other films of this ilk do not—Momoa and his chemistry with Merced. She is very much his daughter, a fighting spirit whose teenage years have forced her to be more adult than most kids her age. If there is anyone equipped with the skills to survive, it is Rachel. As has happened in films such as this, there is an FBI agent and her partner who believe their innocence, or at least what they have done was warranted and could be classified as self-defense.
For fans of the Aquaman actor, Sweet Girl will be for you. The same could be said for those who appreciate the young starlet Merced. The connection between the two will pull at your heart, while still remaining raw, real, and engulfed in danger. What they are experiencing and what she has seen her father do will impact any young teen for life, but there is an unconditional love there that permeates every frame. The two are an unlikely pair of fugitives who have done wrong, yes, but for the right reasons. There is some major illegal activity by the pharmaceutical company that needs to be exposed, even though along the way the Coopers have done some might illegal things to bring this story to the public. When the reporter that starts you on this journey is stabbed right in front of you on a subway, you might just be a wee bit cautious and paranoid.
Momoa unlikely plays the everyman where it is firmly in his wheelhouse. Have you seen him? He is Aquaman in every sense of the world. An enormous man who no one would want to anger. Yet, as he plays a father and a man wrong with a grounded realism that makes him incredibly appealing on a multitude of levels. He channels levels of emotion that is not surprising, they are what is expected of that character at that moment in time. We feel him every inch of the way.
Merced made quite the talent announcement in Dora the Explorer, but in Sweet Girl, her title character is as complex as she is the most unlikely of heroines. Since her mother died, her father has raised her to be tough, fair, and most importantly to possess the values that would make her mom proud. When her father extols revenge, her entire life is turned upside down. She, incredibly, rolls with it in a manner that is not only believable but is firm proof of that old adage that the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.
Director Brian Andrew Mendoza and screenwriters Gregg Hurwitz, and Philip Eisner truly do not break any new ground with Sweet Girl. But it is shot with a crispness that befits its pace and action-laden landscape. Of particular note is the establishing shots of Pittsburg (where it primarily takes place) that are utterly beautiful and as much a part of the story as the narrative. I haven’t felt cinematically about the Steel City since Perks of A Wallflower.
Another thing that the film does well is action sequences with the highest stakes that seem to resolve themselves organically and not simply stop so that they can continue later in the film. That is a major pet peeve of mine.
Grade: B