A new Netflix thriller with an MCU star is blowing up on the streaming service, passing a notable milestone to boot. The streamer has a solid track record with crime thrillers, having had major successes in the past year with things like Havoc, Rebel Ridge, and Woman of the Hour. It’s a genre that lends itself well to the streaming landscape, allowing some fun, easy-to-watch thrills, usually in under two hours, and often starring some well-known names (Havoc, for example, was led by Tom Hardy; Rebel Ridge proved Aaron Pierre was a star; Woman of the Hour starred and was directed by Anna Kendrick).
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The latest effort that’s proving popular is Night Always Comes, which stars The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ Vanessa Kirby. She plays Lynette, who, as her family faces eviction from their home, races through the night to raise the $25,000 they need and is prepared to get it by any means necessary. Per Netflix, it landed in the top 10 on its global charts for the week of August 11th-17th, despite only being released on the 15th. The movie reached #2 overall on the platform, including #4 in the United States, and it even hit the top spot in five countries. The movie had 11.3 million views and, with a runtime of 1 hour and 50 minutes, a total of 20.8m hours watched.
Those stats are comparable with some of the streamer’s biggest recent releases. It’s the same number of hours viewed in the week as My Oxford Year, the romance movie that’s been a major hit for Netflix in August. In the United States, it landed behind Happy Gilmore 2, Kandahar, and the unstoppable #1, KPop: Demon Hunters, which is set to become Netflix’s most-watched movie ever. Night Always Comes may not quite be at that level, but its performance will no doubt still thrill its executives.
Is Night Always Comes Worth Watching?
Night Always Comes‘ success comes despite middling reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds a 57% rating with critics, and an even lower rating – just 42% – with audiences. However, the fact that streamer has been pushing it on its home screen, and that it stars Kirby while she’s also co-leading Marvel’s biggest movie of the year, has helped propel it up the charts. Any new release with a notable cast is likely to do well, especially in a popular genre like crime thriller.
Still, although the reception isn’t great, Night Always Comes is worth watching. There’s an ambition for some greater social commentary here and, while it doesn’t quite achieve it, it’s at least commendable. It hits a lot of typical beats you’d expect, but they’re still done entertainingly. And most of all, there is Kirby’s powerful, raw performance, which brings a lot of depth to Lynette and carries the whole movie. She stole the show in The Fantastic Four, but she is the show here, and the best reason to watch.
Another of Kirby’s movies, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, also entered the top 10 in the United States, placing at #6 on the charts. It’s been a great month for the actress in theaters and on streaming, and it’s about to get even better: she co-stars in Ron Howard’s thriller Eden, alongside Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, and Ana de Armas. That releases in theaters on August 22nd.
Night Always Comes is now streaming on Netflix.
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Image Courtesy of Netflix
