Netflix Is Breathing New Life Into A Forgotten Action Movie – SlashFilm

“The Bricklayer” stars Aaron Eckhart in the title role of an ex-CIA agent who just wants to spend his retirement, er laying bricks apparently. He is, of course, forced out of his laborer life by his former agency in order to help track down an insurgent who’s assassinating international journalists. An adaptation of Paul Lindsay’s 2010 novel of the same name, the film also stars Nina Dobrev, Tim Blake Nelson, Ilfenesh Hadera, and Clifton Collins Jr., and seems to have been enough to keep some critics entertained, even if many criticized the film for cliché action tropes and dodgy plotting.

None of which, it seems, has put off the Netflix crowd, who have propelled “The Bricklayer” to the heights of the Netflix Top 10 (though, as always, it should be noted that this entire chart was basically invented to distract from the streamer’s dodgy viewing metrics). At the time of writing, the movie is the number four most popular film on Netflix U.S., but that’s not the full story. According to streaming data aggregator FlixPatrol, “The Bricklayer” hit number two on Netflix U.S. on April 12, 2024. That’s the day after it hit the service, which is an impressively swift climb up the charts. The movie stayed in the number two spot until April 17, 2024, when it dropped to fourth place, which means it had a solid five-day run near the top but just missed out on the top spot. Considering Kevin Hart’s “Lift” was able to completely dominate the Netflix charts back in January, though, it wouldn’t be the most prestigious accolade for “The Bricklayer” to make it to number one.

For now, then, I’m sure Renny Harlin is grateful for Netflix giving yet another of his quickly-forgotten films a new life.