Biggest Action Disappointment of 2023 Climbs Netflix’s Chart Despite 0% Tomatometer

Summary:

• Netflix ’s top is now being conquered by the 2023 action flick, following a doctor trapped in a hospital taken by the local mafia.
• Although it brings nothing new to the genre, it may still be a nice one-time watch.

It’d be fair to say that critically panned movies are not rare guests of the platforms’ charts at all. On the contrary, sometimes it’s a pleasure to switch off your brain and to dive into a simple, yet somewhat stupid onscreen story to have an evening chill.

The 2023 action flick that is now holding the 6th place in Netflix’s global top fully proves this tendency. Its shameful rating of a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes didn’t manage to scare off the audience, as lots of people around the world have recently watched it.

The movie’s plot revolves around Michelle, an ex-military doctor during her usual working day at the city’s hospital. As it often happens in the genre’s staples, she ends up involved in a showdown where she doesn’t belong - the one of the powerful mafiosos.

They take control not only of the hospital, but also of Michelle’s son Bobby. It becomes the pivotal point for the main heroine, who is forced to recall her battle-hardened past in a battle for survival of Bobby, herself and the whole hospital, full of the innocent ones.

Here we have quite an unexpected female lead, as she is not the one who provokes the bloody fight, like the badass women from other action movies, like Atomic Blonde (2017) or Anna (2019). Michelle is both written and acted well enough to attract the viewers.

However, it seems to be the only interesting aspect of the movie. Its plot development is so predictable that it even seems to be written by AI on the basis of the typical action flicks of the last two decades. Other characters are also forgettable and quite plain.

As for the fighting sequences, they’re indeed spectacular, but clearly not as inventive as you can expect. Thus, this movie, titled Mercy after the fictional Mercy Hospital, truly appears to be a one-time flick to watch after work and not to think of anything else.

A movie doesn’t necessarily need to bring brand-new concepts and techniques to be enjoyable and top-tier, and it’s proved by the recent success of Mercy. Check it out to see whether it really deserves a 0% score, as it’s available for streaming on Netflix.