Mahershala Ali Shows a Softer Side to His Assassin in New Official Look at Acclaimed Action Thriller [Exclusive]

3 weeks ago 38

Published Sep 24, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

Until now, Mahershala Ali hasn't had the chance to headline his own action movie. The Oscar winner has been lauded more for his emotionally complex, character-driven performances, like Chiron's drug-dealing father figure Juan in the Best Picture-winning Moonlight and famed pianist Don Shirley in Green Book. He was originally set to play the Daywalker himself in the MCU's Blade movie, but after years of delays and rumors of cancellation, Ali walked away frustrated by Marvel and Kevin Feige's lack of movement toward actually making the project. This year, though, a new film finally lets him loose in an action-packed turn that still plays to his strengths.

Hitting theaters tomorrow, September 25, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother revolves around a devout hitman named Latif (Ali) who operates via a strict code — no using firearms and no killing anyone the world wouldn't be better off without. He's also, however, a family man, and following the death of his wife, he vows to leave the criminal life behind to focus on his children. Giving up the contract-killing business may be easier said than done, though, with his employer in the middle of a feud that's just heating up. Seeking breast milk to feed his youngest and generally struggling to juggle work, faith, and family, he embarks on a desperate, explosive journey across Houston, haunted by the ghosts of his bloody past that keep closing in on him.

As part of Collider's Exclusive Fall Preview series, we're excited to share a new image that highlights the killer's softer side. He's shown standing just outside a convenience store with his baby strapped to his chest and his phone pressed up against his ear. Without knowing anything about Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother heading in, it'd be easy to mistake Latif for a normal, good dad rather than an assassin for hire. The shot illustrates the struggle of the character, torn between a simpler life trying to provide everything for his children and his criminal profession that's dangerous not just for himself, but for everyone he loves. As the only parent who can care for his children, the stakes are high, and the weight of responsibility is even greater for a man also wrestling with his faith.

Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt

Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.

🎖️Rambo

🍸James Bond

🏺Indiana Jones

🔧John McClane

🎭Ethan Hunt

FIND YOUR PARTNER →

You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.

ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.

NEXT QUESTION →

You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.

AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.

NEXT QUESTION →

You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.

ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.

NEXT QUESTION →

The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.

AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week.

NEXT QUESTION →

How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.

APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.

NEXT QUESTION →

Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.

AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it.

NEXT QUESTION →

Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.

ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it.

NEXT QUESTION →

What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had.

ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.

NEXT QUESTION →

Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.

AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.

NEXT QUESTION →

It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.

AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been.

REVEAL MY PARTNER →

Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

Rambo

Your partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know.

James Bond

Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Indiana Jones

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

John McClane

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

Ethan Hunt

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother' Challenged Ali in Ways He'd Never Experienced

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother marks the first film for director Bassam Tariq since his BAFTA-nominated feature Mogul Mowgli premiered in 2020, though his work has recently been seen on the Riz Ahmed-led series Bait. He was also attached to direct Ali in Blade at one point, but this project gave him the chance to work with the star on something entirely original despite the MCU entry's collapse. In the eyes of critics, the filmmaker hasn't missed a beat in that over half-decade gap. So far, the action thriller boasts a stellar 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Collider's Tania Hussain among those singing its praises in her 9/10 review, writing about how it goes beyond the initial promise of an assassin outrunning his past to "become something far more tender than its premise initially suggests." John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali, Tramell Tillman, Tiffany Boone, and Laith Nakli make up a strong cast around Ali.

While Ali has prominently appeared on the big screen in some bombastic blockbuster franchises, including The Hunger Games and the latest Jurassic World movie, leading his first action film was an altogether different challenge. In an interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub at TIFF, Tariq also added that the actor was doing all of his own stunts, adding an extra layer of difficulty to a shoot with such a focus on nailing its climactic action sequences. Ali relished the opportunity to do something he hadn't tackled on a movie set before, saying:

"That was unfamiliar to me. I hadn't had a chance to do that. I've always wanted to do that, especially as a former athlete, but I had never really had that opportunity in that way. And so I think that that moment going into it and going, ‘When are we going to rehearse this, Bassam? When are we gonna rehearse this in between takes?’ So, it was that type of thing. And I'm very proud of what all involved were able to achieve in making this film."

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother premieres in theaters on September 25. Check out our exclusive image above.