Netflix's latest thriller, The Mother, has been panned by critics - despite being popular with fans and breaking a new streaming record. Starring Jennifer Lopez, the movie sees a military-trained assassin come out of hiding to protect a daughter she's never met from criminals gunning for revenge.
Earlier this week, Netflix announced that The Mother had earnt a cumulative 83.71 million hours viewed in the first three days of its release, ranking as number one in 82 countries. Meaning the film had the biggest opening weekend for any Netflix original film so far this year.
But despite popularity with viewers, earning a 70 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, reviews from critics have left it with a lower rating of 46 per cent on the Tomatometer. One critic, Wade Major, of FilmWeek wrote: "Niki Caro is such a better director than this, and that's what's so disappointing."
Andy Klein added: "It's awful... It had chase sequences with some of the worst action cutting I've ever seen." WhyNow's Maria Lattila typed: "The Mother, for the most part, is a complete misfire. It’s forgettable, clumsy and dull. Its worst quality is the complete lack of potential; its script consists purely of clichés, and it’s hard to see anyone make this into a decent feature film."
The film's score has also broken a rather unwanted record for respected filmmaker Niki Caro. The Mother's critics score represents an all-time low mark for Caro, who preciously wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Whale Rider in 2004 and the recent Disney live-action remake of Mulan.
However, many fans have given The Mother glowing reviews. Alongside five stars on Rotten Tomatoes, JW wrote: "Found this movie to be very entertaining. Jennifer Lopez makes a convincing action star."
Cali said: "I enjoyed this movie soooo much, Jennifer Lopez always delivers." Sarah K declared: "Best movie I've seen on Netflix in a looooong time."
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Jennifer Lopez's assassin training for The Mother
Lopez's training to become an onscreen assassin involved a gruelling regime of workouts and how to use weapons, so the former singer could look convincing in the role. In a new video released by Netflix, she describes what it was like.
She said: "Being a dancer really helps you when it comes to learning steps of things. Even in the fighting, it's like learning a technique of a new kind of dance. And to look like you know how you're doing it, you really have to kind of master the body positions and movements."
As part of the role, Lopez had to enrol in special military sniper-rifle sessions, but it was knife fighting that she found most testing having never done it for a role before. Explaining how she trained, Lopez said: "There's a dummy knife that you start with, and you don't wanna play with anything that's not it. Of course, when we’re doing the actual fight, we’re not using a real knife either.”
