Netflix

The Wild Thriller With Keanu Reeves & Jason Momoa is Trending on Netflix

The Wild Thriller With Keanu Reeves & Jason Momoa is Trending on Netflix
Image credit: Vice Studios, Netflix

One of the weirdest movies of the last decade has been rediscovered by Netflix users.

Summary

  • Ana Lily Amirpour is among the most iconoclastic filmmakers in the modern American film industry.
  • In 2016, she released a wild dystopian thriller starring famous Hollywood actors.
  • Despite the criticism upon its release, the movie found success on Netflix in 2024.

Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi. It's hard to believe, but there was once a movie with such a powerful ensemble! It seems that such a stellar cast can make any movie incredibly famous.

However, the project in question was forgotten rather quickly after its release in 2016, although it had an original and refreshing genre-bending concept. Thankfully, eight years after its release, the film has been rediscovered by Netflix users, who are now actively recommending it.

It's a nearly two-hour crazy mix of dystopia and thriller, acid trips and cannibalism, multidimensional characters and constant tension. Unfortunately, the movie didn't do well at the time of its release, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming a new favorite of Netflix viewers in 2024. Let's take a look at what the movie is all about and whether it's worth watching.

What Is This Movie About?

As we said, Ana Lily Amirpour is an iconoclastic filmmaker who delivers surreal yet profound stories. She debuted in 2014 with the vampire horror A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which cleverly combined elements of classic Sergio Leone-inspired Western films, Iranian culture, and a feminist message. In 2021, her new film, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, an incredibly stylish fantasy thriller starring Kate Hudson and Jun Jong-seo, was released.

But neither it nor her debut project will reach the level of insanity of Amirpour's 2016 dystopian thriller, titled The Bad Batch.

The 'bad batch' are people deemed undesirable by the government and sent to a remote desert outside of Texas. In this area, there are no US laws and human rights mean nothing, so anyone who finds themselves there must fend for themselves, resorting to violence and even cannibalism.

This is the situation the protagonist, Arlen (Waterhouse), finds herself in after having her right arm and leg cut off by cannibals. She has found refuge in a local settlement called Comfort, where the economy is kept alive by 24-hour raves and mind-altering substances ingested by the pound.

One day, Arlen rescues a little girl named Honey (Jayda Fink), only to find out that she is the daughter of cannibal leader Miami Man (Jason Momoa), who is now determined to get the child back by any means necessary. Keanu Reeves plays the enigmatic Hermit and Jim Carrey portrays The Dream, the head of Comfort.

Mediocre Release Performance and Ratings

Unfortunately, despite a stellar cast and Ana Lily Amirpour's expressive directorial style, the film didn't get enough hype upon release. The film only grossed $201,890 at the box office, but that's due to a limited theatrical run and the film's subsequent release on Netflix. A much better indicator of the movie's failure were its scores on review aggregators.

On Rotten Tomatoes, for example, The Bad Batch received 45% from critics and an even more pitiful 30% from audiences. Many praised the visual storytelling, a hypnotic and gruesome premise reminiscent of both Spaghetti Westerns and Mad Max. At the same time, the two-hour running time proved to be too much for such a film, and coupled with the self-indulgent script, the experience was not the most enjoyable for some viewers.

However, as Netflix users have pointed out, The Bad Batch is absolutely worth watching for the great performances by Jason Momoa and Jim Carrey, the excellent score and cinematography, as well as the vibes that are established between the characters. All in all, this is probably one of the most underappreciated movies of the past decade, and what better person to show that even cannibals can be sympathetic than Ana Lily Amirpour.