An Overlooked Gerard Butler Action Thriller Is Finally Finding An Audience On Netflix

An overlooked Gerard Butler action thriller is soaring up the Netflix charts this week — despite the fact that critics absolutely panned it. The 2023 movie "Kandahar," in which Butler plays a CIA operative trapped in hostile territory, is currently the #2 movie in the U.S. That's according to Netflix's daily Top 10 ranking inside the app (accessible here), a reflection of the fact that — while the critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is a brutal 45% score, based on more than 100 reviews — audiences seem to have largely enjoyed it.

Viewers have given the film an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with more than 250 verified reviews praising its emotional beats and humanized portrayal of all the main characters. One fan summed it up by saying they "always enjoy a good Gerard Butler movie" and were "pleasantly surprised with how much this movie got me in the feels."

That word-of-mouth, plus Butler's name recognition, seems to have helped turn "Kandahar" into yet another example of Netflix's ability to breathe new life into a title that I certainly don't remember getting much traction in theaters upon its initial release.

Netflix's Top 10 lists, which feature both TV shows and movies, are basically the re-animators of the streaming world, helping all sorts of forgotten titles find a second life for a whole host of reasons. A title's sudden climb might owe more to curiosity than actual enthusiasm, while a familiar star (like Butler) in a thumbnail can be enough to get viewers to hit play even if they know nothing about the movie. Sometimes, though, that curiosity turns into genuine appreciation, which seems to be the case with "Kandahar."

Butler brings his familiar gruff action-hero presence here, but I'd also argue that "Kandahar" has more depth than the average shoot-'em-up. Against the backdrop of war-torn Afghanistan, Butler plays a covert CIA operative racing to safety "when his identity is leaked," according to the official Netflix summary. And viewers have responded to that setup by praising its combination of adrenaline and emotion. In other words, this one has the hallmarks of the sort of mid-budget, grown-up thriller that doesn't come around often in theaters anymore, yet on Netflix it's found new life and a fresh wave of fans.

As a testament to how well it's performing on the streaming giant right now, "Kandahar" (directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Mitchell LaFortune), is also sitting right behind the Netflix blockbuster "KPop Demon Hunters," the animated K-pop-themed musical that's currently #1 and which has spent a staggering two months on Netflix's global Top 10 chart since its release.