Sweet Girl: Pretty Good

Once again: panned by myopic critics, liked by me.  Just to be clear: I don't think Sweet Girl is a great movie.  But I thought it was pretty good.

Jason Momoa is a father bent on vengeance and justice for a slick high-tech pharmaceutical company that withholds a life-saving treatment for his wife, who dies.  He's Jason Momoa.  Don't expect Marlon Brando or even Liam Neeson.  Momoa delivers his lines and is an imposing presence on the screen.

Isabela Merced is the daughter, of course also aggrieved, and bent on both helping her father and keeping him from going too far, i.e., endangering what's left of the family, her and her father.  I thought Merced, whom I recall from Sicario, put in a strong, convincing performance.

Now as to the plot ...

[BIG SPOILERS AHEAD]

True, we've seen it before, but it was done pretty well in Sweet Girl.  The "it" being that a lot of the time we saw Jason Momoa in action (playing the father, Ray Cooper), it was really Isabela Merced (playing his daughter Rachel Cooper, who could be called Ray for short).  Now this is a bit of a stretch, for sure.  Rachel was that good, that competent in all kinds of combat?  Well, since she certainly had the element of surprise in close hand-to-hand combat -- her opponents didn't expect that much from her -- maybe her success was at least somewhat well founded.

Anyway, it worked for me.  Rachel is a sharp witted, empathetic character, with now well-honed combat skills, and it would be fun to see her in another movie.