If something makes it big on Netflix, it’s a certified hit — and the new number one movie has earned one of its biggest Rotten Tomatoes scores ever.
Six months into 2024 and streaming services such as Netflix have had huge ups and downs, delivering some of the best new movies streaming alongside 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 up the side hustle of being a fake assassin for the police. Released on June 7, it’s since become Netflix’s number one movie 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 His House (100%), The Forty-Year-Old Version (99%), and licensed titles like Godzilla Minus One, but it beats the likes of The Irishman (95%), Spaceman (49%), and Extraction (67%).
After its opening weekend, it’s safe to say that fans aren’t surprised.
“Literally watching it as we speak. About to finish it. Seriously a great movie loved every bit of it,” one posted on X/Twitter in response to the news.
A second agreed: “Watched it last night. Funny without being goofy. Some drama without taking itself too seriously. Solid performances. Nice production values — pleasing to the eye. Easy plot to follow. Not winning any Oscars, but it knows what it is — and it’s very good.”
While initial fan reactions are strong, many are still in disbelief that Hit Man didn’t get a longer theatrical release — or in most territories, any theatrical release at all.
Speaking to IndieWire, Linklater claimed that Netflix‘s offer was the best he got because studios no longer want to make adult entertainment.
“The indie film [world], to me, seems to have the same goals that it’s always had: to show films and try to find an audience somewhere,” he explained. “It’s the studio world, to me, that’s changed the most. They’ve abdicated a kind of filmmaking.
“They’re not interested in even making this type of film [anymore]. They’re not interested in adult entertainment.”
Regardless of its Netflix debut, the critics seem to be on the same page as the fans, with Hit Man’s Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and Audience Score almost matched.
In our own four-star review, we wrote: “Linklater’s latest is a guaranteed good time, packed with unique and empathetic characters and narrative just about original enough to take audiences someplace new. Chances are though, these audiences might forget all about it in a month or two.”
Mark Olsen at the Los Angeles Times agreed: “Hit Man makes for an undeniable good time. Sometimes all you really need is a couple of impossibly attractive people enjoying each other’s company, captured by a filmmaker who knows when to stay out of their way.”
Hit Man is available to stream on Netflix now. Check out more new movies, the best movies of the year so far, and the best action movies of all time.
