Bloody Netflix Thriller Stars Legendary Batman Actor As Assassin
Seven years after its lackluster release, 2017’s American Assassin has become a hit on streaming. Admittedly, the movie isn’t currently dominating any top 10 streaming list on any platform, but it’s doing very well on Netflix, even though it didn’t fare well with the critics. It did, however, fare well with the audiences, and those interested in revisiting the movie can do so on Netflix.
Based On The Vince Flynn Novel
The 2017 American Assassin, featuring the most legendary of all Batmen, Michael Keaton, and his younger Hollywood colleague Dylan O’Brien, is based on the novel of the same name written and published by Vince Flynn in 2010. The story is centered on the young CIA black ops recruit Mitch Rapp, who helps a Cold War veteran, portrayed by Keaton, in trying to stop the detonation of a rogue nuclear weapon that has gone missing from the decommissioned Russian nuclear facility.
Action-Revenge Thriller
The movie has all the classic action thriller tropes: a man’s fiancé gets killed by terrorists, he goes Batman-mode in combatant training, infiltrates the terrorists, gets picked up by the CIA, and helps them put a stop to the entire terrorist organization. So, it’s not really all that surprising that critics weren’t charmed by the American Assassin, granting the movie a 34 percent on Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, mostly due to the fact that action thrillers are a very crowded genre and making something that stands out isn’t all that easy.
Critics Were Lukewarm, But Fans Enjoyed It
Fortunately, the audiences liked American Assassin enough to warrant a 60 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which pushed the lackluster box office performance just enough for the movie to recuperate its budget and make a few bucks on top, but nothing major.
After that, the movie failed to win any major awards, and it seemed well on its way to the realm of forgotten movie releases. Streaming platforms have always been a place for action thrillers and nearly forgotten movies to make a comeback, which served American Assassin well.
A Second Lease On Life Through Streaming
Nearly seven years after its release, American Assassin made a short jump to #1 movie on Netflix in the US in February this year. While it has since fallen off the Top 10 list, its presence on the platform lingered enough for people to pick up the title and dedicate 111 minutes of their lives to absorbing its contents.
And the movie is far from being the first film to pull this off; even Eternals—the horrible MCU movie whose only good villain was a side character—made it to the top of its respective streaming platform’s list at one point, which only goes to prove that there’s hope even for the worst of releases.
Available On Netflix
This does not imply that American Assassin is a bad movie, far from it. It’s just a mediocre attempt to start an action franchise, a good action thriller to pass the time that won’t leave you pondering over the nature of the universe once the movie night is over. Those interested in watching American Assassin, starring the Beetlejuice 2 actor, can watch the movie on Netflix.
