It seems like Bruce Willis has truly thrown in the proverbial towel as of late. The vast majority of his output over the last few years has either earned only a limited theatrical release or skipped cinemas altogether and went straight to streaming/VOD. Some of these efforts include Precious Cargo, Marauders and Once Upon a Time in Venice. And if you haven’t heard of any of them, we don’t blame you.
Still, Willis seems to be content with starring in mediocre projects and collecting his cheque at the end of each one. That was certainly the case when he signed on for 2018 thriller Acts of Violence, a disposable and cheaply made action flick that just arrived on Netflix last week. And despite an abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%, it’s absolutely dominating on the platform today, as it’s currently the 8th most-watched movie on Netflix.
Why, you ask? Well, as is often the case when it comes to the Top 10 charts on Netflix, there’s not always a clear reason behind why any given title sparks in popularity. If it’s a big new release or a beloved classic film, sure, there’s nothing weird about it. But when something like Acts of Violence begins drawing in tons of viewers, it’s certainly a bit strange.
For those unfamiliar with the movie, the action flick follows “a police detective (Willis) investigating a kidnapping that eventually uncovers human trafficking.” It’s a simple enough premise, but the pic fails to execute it and what we ended up with was an uninspired, ugly and forgettable outing.
You could potentially chalk up Acts of Violence‘s sudden popularity to the fact that it’s fairly new on Netflix, having just arrived on August 1st, but then again, the start of the month brought a ton of new films with it and there’s no reason that this one should stand out.
It certainly does, though, for a lot of viewers, and with the next few days looking a bit underwhelming for new content on Netflix, this terrible Bruce Willis flick will likely remain in the Top 10 for a while yet.