Danielle Solzman
Jason Momoa and Isabela Merced star in the Pittsburgh-set thriller, Sweet Girl, in which a man seeks justice for his wife’s death.
Ray Cooper (Jason Momoa) is dead-set on getting justice after his wife, Amanda (Adria Arjona), dies from cancer. The only fight chance she had went out the window when the life-saving drug got pulled by the pharmaceutical company. Ray’s search for the truth only consistently puts him and his daughter, Rachel (Isabela Merced), in the line of danger. After his wife dies, all he has is Rachel and he’ll stop at nothing to protect her. The apple, it should be said, does not fall far from the tree.
What we’re getting from the Aquaman star is a side of him we’ve never seen before. The actor gets the opportunity here to display his emotions as a family man caring for his dying wife and then, of course, seeking justice for her death. From the film’s opening moments on top of PNC Park, we know we’re in for quite the ride. But still, there’s no limit when it comes to protecting your family and the actor brings plenty of depth to his character.
Isabela Merced is a rising action star in the making. Merced’s work in this film is a showcase for what she’s capable of pulling off in an action thriller. It is quite the different role from her work in Instant Family and even Transformers: The Last Knight.
This film features some stupendous stunt work here. I would never run across the roof of a baseball stadium but sure enough, Jason Momoa is doing this at PNC Park in Sweet Girl‘s opening moments. We don’t know how or why he ended up at this particular spot and it’s no surprise that the script makes this the moment to jump back in time to see how we got there.
There’s a WTF moment in this film. I’m not going to get into spoiler territory here by going into details. What I will say is that it also caught me off guard to tell you the truth. I almost feel like I need to watch the film again to see if there’s something I missed. It certainly is not unfair to say that this film just might require multiple viewings.
Frequent Momoa producing partner Brian Andrew Mendoza makes his feature directorial debut. When one goes from directing commercials to an action thriller, it’s a heavy burden. It’s a daunting task but hey, someone has to do it.
Jason Momoa and Isabela Merced bring the action to the father-daughter story in Sweet Girl but this film is an otherwise generic thriller. The film’s main plot involves pharmaceutical companies. I’m sure there’s no shortage of potential thrillers involving the industry but they need to be better. This is an industry that is absolutely ripe for legal thrillers, much less action thrillers!
DIRECTOR: Brian Andrew Mendoza
SCREENWRITERS: Gregg Hurwitz & Philip Eisner
CAST: Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Raza Jaffrey, Justin Bartha, Lex Scott Davis, Michael Raymond-James, and Amy Brenneman
