The Jennifer Lopez-starring action movie, The Mother, outperformed all other releases of 2023 in its opening weekend. Within just 28 days, it garnered a whopping 229.3 million hours of viewing time, securing its spot in Netflix's most popular English-language movies list.
The Mother instantly became popular on Netflix right after its premiere. Ever since it debuted, the film has held the peak of Netflix’s Weekly chart. This has caused a significant shift in Netflix’s Top 10 list, pushing out De Niro’s 3-hour-long epic gangster film, The Irishman, in the process as reported by Screen Rant.
The movie got mixed reviews from critics, only able to get a modest 43% on movie review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film’s appeal among Netflix subscribers did not reflect its lackluster rating. The accessibility of its plot, coupled with the thrilling action sequences and Lopez's indisputable star power, guaranteed the movie a successful run on the streaming platform.
Nothing Beats a Mother’s Love as Shown by Jennifer Lopez
The Mother sees Jennifer Lopez playing an unnamed assassin coming out of seclusion to protect her daughter, whom she left earlier in her life. The movie mainly took place in the United States, somewhere in remote Alaska and in some parts, Cuba. The wheels of events began rolling when Lopez’s character, the mother, was alerted that people, with whom she had bad dealings in the past, knows about her daughter.
A huge part of the film’s success can be attributed to the New Zealand native, Niki Caro. She is widely known for helming films with strong female-driven narratives, such as Whale Rider, North Country and The Zookeeper’s Wife. Caro's directorial prowess shines through in The Mother, with Lopez delivering a compelling performance as a mother fiercely protecting her child from a legion of trained killers.
The potent combination of Caro’s creativeness and Lopez’s character portrayal brought about The Mother’s solid aspect of a story that is realistic for a woman. The director’s guiding on the film made it feel humane, instead of going the usual overly sexualized character of a female assassin. The film depicted how a mother will do anything for her child.
Jennifer Lopez’s acting became the central piece to the movie, holding everything together. She succeeded in her mission of giving justice to the film’s protagonist. Lopez’s on-screen charisma is evident throughout the movie, no matter where the scene is being shot at.
The movie was officially announced by Netflix back in 2021. The film production began just a few months later. Netflix slated its release date to May 2023. The timeline has taken into account the possible obstacles and hindrances the film shooting might encounter, which it did in the form of COVID-19 and its host of other variants.
The film's remarkable success has spurred talks of turning it into a franchise. There are murmurs about a possible sequel focusing on Zoe, the daughter character, intriguingly referred to as The Daughter by Lopez. While no official announcement has been made, the film's impressive performance numbers hint at the potential birth of Netflix's next big franchise.