Netflix Users Have Just Hours Left To Stream Christian Bale’s Underrated Box Office Flop

With a filmography of blockbuster movies like The Dark Knight trilogy, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Terminator: Salvation, Christian Bale is an incredibly bankable actor, but even he has a few flops on his resume. That was the case for a 2017 Western drama that united Bale with director Scott Cooper for the first time since Out of the Furnace. The movie became a massive box office bomb that has gone down as one of the most overlooked movies in Bale’s career, and Netflix users have just hours left to watch it.

That movie is Hostiles, the Western drama starring Bale as legendary Army Capt. Joseph Blocker, who in 1892 must embark on a perilous journey to escort an influential war chief and his family back to their home in Montana. The movie had a disastrous box office performance, grossing just $35.7 million on a budget estimated between $40 and $50 million. The film became a streaming hit when it surprise dropped on Netflix earlier this year, but Hostiles is now set to exit the streaming platform on November 20th.

Hostiles Is Christian Bale’s Most Overlooked Movie, but That Needs to Change

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With a lack of marketing, a limited release in the United States, and bigger, more successful films in Bale’s career, it’s easy to see why Hostiles has been overlooked, but that doesn’t mean it deserves its “forgotten movie” status. Hostiles is an incredibly thoughtful take on the Western genre and is a devastatingly underrated movie that more people need to see.

The film is a beautifully shot, brutal, and unflinching look at the harsh consequences of violence and the difficult path to reconciliation that goes far beyond simple good-vs-evil narratives and delves into the complexities of human nature. The character-driven story packs a gut-wrenching emotional experience for viewers that is led by the powerful performances of the phenomenally stacked cast, including Bale as the world-weary captain and Pike in an emotionally raw performance as a widow who joins the grueling journey.

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With breathtaking visuals that provide a stark and beautiful backdrop to the grim and violent story and a stirring score composed by Max Richter, Hostiles actually has a pretty great critic and audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes in comparison to its abysmal box office haul. The movie is rated fresh in both regards, with a 71% critic score and an even better 77% audience rating.

Where to Stream Hostiles After It Leaves Netflix?

Fans of Bale and Westerns will thankfully still be able to stream Hostiles when it leaves Netflix on November 20th. Outside of the streaming giant, the movie is also included in the streaming catalogs of Prime Video, Tubi, the Roku Channel, and Plex. It is also available on VOD.

Although Hostiles is leaving Netflix in just a few hours, the streamer still has plenty of great movie options for subscribers. This month brought the arrival of popular movies like Crazy Rich Asians, Ocean’s 8, and all three Back to the Future films.

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