If anything makes it big on Netflix, it’s a certified hit — and the new number one movie has earned one of the biggest Rotten Tomatoes scores ever.
Six months into 2024 and streaming services like Netflix have had their fair share of ups and downs, delivering some of the best new movies to stream along with some… less favorable ones.
One such hit is Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, based on a wild true story of an unassuming college professor who took on the side effect of being a fake killer for the police. Released on June 7, it has since become the number one movie on Netflix in the US and earned one of the best Rotten Tomatoes scores for an original film.
Hit Man is officially certified fresh, scoring 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. For context, that’s lower than His House (100%), The Forty-Year-Old Version (99%), and licensed titles like Godzilla Minus One, but beats The Irishman (95%), of Spaceman (49%). , and Extraction (67%).
After its opening weekend, it’s safe to say fans aren’t surprised.
“I’m literally watching it as we speak. I’m almost done with it. Seriously a great movie loved every bit of it”, one was posted on X/Twitter in response to the news.
A second agreed: “I watched it last night. Funny without being silly. Some drama without taking itself too seriously. Solid performances. Nice production values — pleasing to the eye. Easy plot then. He hasn’t won an Oscar, but he knows what it is — and it’s very good.”
While initial fan reactions have been strong, many are still in disbelief that Hit Man didn’t get a bigger theatrical release — or in most territories, any theatrical release at all.
Speaking to IndieWire, Linklater claimed that Netflix’s offer was the best he had because studios no longer want to make adult entertainment.
“The indie film [world]to me, it seems to have the same goals it’s always had: to show movies and try to find an audience somewhere,” he said. explained. “It’s the studio world, for me, that has changed the most. They have given up on a kind of filmmaking.
“They are not even interested in making these kinds of films [anymore]. They’re not interested in adult entertainment.”
Regardless of its Netflix debut, critics seem to be on the same page as fans, with Hit Man’s Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and audience score almost matching.
In our own four-star review, we wrote: “Linklater’s latest is a guaranteed good time, filled with unique and empathetic characters and storytelling original enough to transport audiences somewhere new. However, chances are that audience may forget all about it in a month or two.”
Mark Olsen in the Los Angeles Times agreed: “Hit Man makes for an undeniable good time. Sometimes all you really need is some incredibly attractive people enjoying each other’s company, captured by a director who knows when to stay out of their way.”
Hit Man is now available to stream on Netflix. See more new movies, the best movies of the year so far, and the best action movies of all time.
