Bruce Willis has starred in some great sci-fi movies over the decades including 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon and Looper, but it would be safe to say at this stage that Cosmic Sin will not be remembered as one of the actor’s best efforts in the genre. Willis’ descent into VOD mediocrity has been fascinating to watch unfold, and the guy just keeps showing up in terrible films to give almost laughably apathetic performances.
Cosmic Sin marks the Die Hard legend’s second sci-fi collaboration in a row with director Edward Drake, and their first team-up in Breach was only released in December, showing just how quickly Willis is burning through projects. That pic was largely panned by critics and holds a meager 23% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that’s positively awards worthy compared to Cosmic Sin‘s current 5% rating.
The plot focuses on intergalactic mercenaries discovering an alien civilization, before being tasked with the very American mission of obliterating it from existence as if there are secret oil fields on the planet or something. Willis is only a supporting player in the movie, but he’s still got some residual name value so he found himself as the focal point of the marketing, despite top billing actually going to the much more reliable and invested Frank Grillo.
Even though it’s been largely dismissed since hitting VOD last Friday, Cosmic Sin has managed to find a huge audience after becoming one of the best-selling movies on iTunes over the weekend. Bruce Willis has another six B-tier actioners in various stages of development as he continues to show up, pocket a paycheck and do the bare minimum, so it could be a long time yet before we see the 65 year-old in anything that can be deemed a genuine critical or commercial success.