If there’s one thing we can always rely on as times continue to be unprecedented and uncertain, it’s B-level action movies dominating the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list. Over the last ten days alone we’ve seen Anthony Mackie’s brand new Outside the Wire nab the top spot along with Russell Crowe’s 2010 effort The Next Three Days, while Jason Statham’s Homefront and Taken 3 have also recently found themselves among the most popular titles on the platform.
The latest genre thriller to reach the summit of the content library is Below Zero, made all the more impressive by the fact that it’s a Spanish-language movie. After all, given that 60 million of Netflix’s 200 million subscribers reside in the United States, the majority of the best performers in terms of viewership tend to be either English-language originals or pre-existing Hollywood titles.
There are definite shades of Con Air in the concept of Below Zero, which follows a prison transport that comes under attack on an isolated road. The officer driving the vehicle manages to survive the initial assault, before barricading himself inside and trying to defend the various convicts from the mystery villains, who appear intent to rescue one of their own from the inside.
Leading man Javier Gutierrez is no stranger to Netflix projects having previously appeared in Mirage and The Occupant, both of which scored strong reviews from critics, and though Below Zero was only added on Thursday, it’s clearly generated a huge wave of buzz and momentum if it’s already managed to ascend to the top spot on the most-watched list. But the real question is how long it can stay there, especially with well-received family film Finding Ohana lurking just behind it on the chart.