Straightforward movies about running, gunning, and kicking all sorts of ass are among the most reliably popular forms of cinema to be found on any streaming service. It doesn’t matter what critics think, or whether or not the title in question even comes highly recommended; it scratches an itch subscribers will always have. With that in mind, the thoroughly terrible Army of One appearing out of nowhere to become one of Netflix’s biggest hits shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Per FlixPatrol, since being added to the library in dozens of international markets, director Stephen Durham’s run-of-the-mill revenge flick has snaffled a Top 10 spot in no less than 21 nations, which has seen it emerge from the rugged undergrowth of ignominy to instantly solidify a status as the platform’s sixth top-viewed feature on a global scale.
Ellen Hollman’s excellently-named Brenner Baker is on a camping trip with her husband, but when they accidentally uncover a hidden compound used for the storage of illicit weapons and narcotics, they’re forced to flee for their lives. Captured and tortured, an ironically fatal mistake is made when the villains leave Brenner for dead without actually checking that her pulse has stopped.
Alive, enraged, and determined to avenge her spouse’s demise, the highly-trained Army Ranger becomes a one-woman army to seek retribution, dropping bodies and bullets on a path of destruction that leaves the bad guys realizing they made a terrible mistake in not finishing her off for good. Formulaic to a fault, then, Army of One does at least deliver exactly what you’d expect from the title, which has been more than enough to convince the Netflix faithful it’s worth tracking down.