Mahershala Ali has been in an interesting position as of late, as he’s been promoting a new film while consistently talking about one that apparently won’t see the light of day. The two-time Oscar winner has been fielding questions about Marvel’s now-scrapped Blade movie while doing press for one of his 2026 movie schedule entries, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. Ali hasn’t held back his disappointment over the superhero movie not coming together but, if it’s any consolation, his new movie is getting rave reviews.
For this latest film, Ali joined forces with writer/director Bassam Tariq, who was actually the first director attached to Blade several years ago. We may never know what the two would’ve crafted for the Daywalker’s story, but it’s evident that their new thriller film is a must-see. As of this writing, the film holds a 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 60 reviews. The movie as a whole is receiving acclaim, and with that comes praise for Ali. THR’s Jourdain Searles had this to say about the leading man’s performance:
Ali is perfectly cast in the role of Latif, an imposing man of few words radiating both warmth and strength. In the decade since Moonlight, Ali has been a great actor in search of a film role worthy of his talents. He elevated Green Book as much as he could, but the film around him still came up short. For a while, audiences looked forward to his leading role in a Blade film that never happened. Thankfully, Tariq has finally given Ali a leading role suitable for an Oscar-winning actor of his stature.
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother sees Ali take on the role of Houston-based hitman Latif, who’s deeply devoted to his Muslim faith. Following the death of his wife, Latif is forced to provide for his three children as a single parent all while dealing with dangerous criminal elements and his struggles with his faith. Guy Lodge of Variety is among the critics who have praised the film, and he seems very impressed with Tariq’s ability to freshen up a long-used premise:
Taking the hoariest of premises within the genre — jaded hitman is forced to take one last job — and significantly complicating it with finely drawn family drama and, most unusually and unexpectedly, a nuanced examination of Islamic faith in modern America, Tariq’s sophomore feature scales up everything that was auspicious about ‘Mogul Mowgli,’ from its rich sense of cultural community to its oily, humidly saturated visuals.
Overall, Tariq’s latest film seemed to be a labor of love for both him and Ali, who’s been honest about the “frustrating experience” of navigating Hollywood even as an actor with major awards. While their new movie is being praised, it’s not a complete homerun with every critic. IndieWire’s Katie Rife is mostly positive on the film but is also of the belief that several key elements hold it back from sheer effectiveness:
Unfortunately, some promising themes, particularly those pitting individual moral codes against the dogma of organized religion, get lost in the chaos as the emphasis shifts to over-the-top side characters and bloody set pieces later on in the film.
Pundits are also, unsurprisingly, aware of Blade’s status and the comments Ali has made about it. The Wrap’s Zachary Lee mentions the since-discarded Marvel film in his own review of Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and agrees it’s a shame the movie won’t come to fruition. However, Lee also makes another point:
Much ink will be written about how Marvel fumbled the bag with ‘Blade,’ which had Tariq signed on as director and Ali starring as the titular daywalker. I’ll join that choir but also can’t help but feel that what Ali, Tariq and the collaborators have assembled feels not just like kismet but divinely ordained, as if this was the movie they were always meant to make.
In some ways, this movie is an example of using lemons to make lemonade, as Tariq and Ali’s creative bond was cultivated while they worked on their MCU installment. Not only that, but Ali revealed that one of the silver linings of the axed superhero flick was that the sword training he underwent for it proved to be invaluable for this latest film. The LA Times’ Tim Grierson also alluded to that in his positive review of the film:
‘Your Mother’ came together after Tariq and Ali failed to get a ‘Blade’ reboot green-lighted, with Ali utilizing his martial-arts training from that aborted Marvel project. Especially during this film’s bombastic battle-royale ending, one can sense the superhero movie the two of them might have made.
The notion of Blade no longer being amongst the upcoming Marvel movies is still a tough pill to swallow, especially considering how much promise the film had. Nevertheless, based on these reviews, it sounds like anyone who still wants to see Mahershala Ali play a sword-wielding agent of justice won’t be left wanting, thanks to Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. Check out the film, which is now playing in theaters nationwide.
