Ali and Tariq bring hitman thriller to Toronto after Blade exit

Five years after Marvel hired them to make Blade, Mahershala Ali and Bassam Tariq arrived in Toronto with a very different film.

Their action thriller “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” held its world premiere on Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival, ahead of a theatrical release on 25 September, according to Variety.

Tariq directed the film. Ali stars as Latif, a devout Muslim hitman forced on the run after his wife’s sudden death.

He flees with three children. They are a teenage daughter, a 10-year-old son and a newborn baby, a setup that turns the chase into a family survival story, according to Variety.

Newcomer Adia plays the teenage daughter. Jahleel Kamara plays the 10-year-old son. John Cho co-stars as Hwan, the leader of an anti-pornography Christian cult.

The Toronto reunion follows a long road with Marvel Studios. The studio hired Tariq in 2021 to direct Blade starring Ali. Tariq left the director’s chair in 2022 because of production delays and stayed on as an executive producer.

By July 2026, Ali had confirmed the Blade film was dead in the water, according to Variety. The training was not wasted. Ali used sword-fighting skills learned for Blade in the new film.

After the premiere, Tariq, Ali and the cast took part in a question-and-answer session at the Princess of Wales Theatre. The film screened as part of TIFF’s Special Presentations programme, a sidebar for high-profile titles, after being announced in July, according to Variety.

It is Tariq’s second feature after “Mogul Mowgli”. The new film was written and directed by Tariq for Orion Pictures, which is owned by Amazon MGM, according to Variety. TIFF lists it as a Texas-set action thriller.

For fans, this means a quick turnaround. Toronto launched the film on 12 September. It reaches cinemas on 25 September.