Gerard Butler’s Underrated 2018 Crime Thriller Hits Max’s Top Charts

The holidays are right around the corner, so hopefully the top titles on the major streaming services will be Christmas classics that the whole family can enjoy. This is hilarious No However, that is how it is and it is a sign of increasingly broad tastes or coarser sensibilities.

I won’t have a problem with viewers getting into the Christmas spirit by watching such violent delights as “Die Hard,” “Silent Night, Deadly Night” or any of Shane Black’s classics set around the holiday. . I could just plop down and run a marathon of “Lethal Weapon,” “The Last Boy Scout,” “The Long Goodnight Kiss,” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is when you bring out “It’s a Wonderful Life” (a remarkably dark movie in itself) or any of the adaptations of “A Christmas Carol.”

But if the FlixPatrol report You have to believe the most popular movies currently streaming on Max, most people are prioritizing some macabre and/or gory contemporary movies this December. As was the case last week, the box office flop “Joker: Folie à Deux” currently tops Max’s most-watched list, with “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in second place. Surely something like “Elf” or “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” are close behind, right? No. Number three on the list is a sleazy, fast-paced B-movie with an impressive body count.

This Christmas, add four fingers of bourbon to your eggnog and enjoy Christian Gaudegast’s twisty heist thriller “Den of Thieves.” Starring Gerard Butler as Big Nick O’Brien, a drunk and aggressive cop who craves blood-spattered donuts, this film has gone from being a modest box office success (it grossed $80 million worldwide on a $30 million budget). million) to a classic parenting movie in its entirety. It’s a drunken riff on “Heat” with a variety of tough-guy performances from Pablo Schreiber, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.” It sounds bloody and silly, but don’t let that fool you; the Gaudegast’s narrative is surprisingly clever and peaks with an ending you might not see coming.

“Den of Thieves” rides or dies with a harsh philosophy that is the antithesis of “Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men.” So why is this 2018 action movie suddenly so popular on Max? Because, that’s because the sequel, “Den of Thieves: Pantera,” hits theaters on January 10, 2025. And, really, who would you rather spend time with this Christmas: your family or Gerard Butler? So if the world really is going to hell, refresh that drink and let’s go there with Big Nick.