Alan Ritchson is an business unto himself. The Reacher star launched successful Prime Video collection that is returning subsequent month with a derivative in tow. In the meantime, his upcoming revenge thriller Motor Metropolis already appears to be like like a gritty cult basic. However it seems that we might already know what Ritchson’s greatest success of 2026 might be. In accordance with information lately launched by Netflix, this navy sci-fi thriller drew 147 million views in the course of the first half of 2026. Not solely was it Netflix’s most-watched film with 11 million extra views than The Rip, however it additionally recorded 44 million extra views than Netflix’s most-watched tv collection throughout that very same time interval. In the event you haven’t watched it but, then now’s in all probability the time so you possibly can see what all of the fuss is about. That is proper, the one factor greater than Alan Ritchson’s biceps is Battle Machine’s completely staggering Netflix view rely.
Co-written and directed by Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard), Battle Machine stars Ritchson as a anonymous soldier grappling with the trauma of shedding his brother within the line of obligation. Aliens invade the planet whereas Ritchson’s character, who’s given the candidate quantity 81, is collaborating in a coaching train as a part of the Ranger Evaluation and Choice Program. An alien craft — primarily a mecha — crashes into the woods the place the train is happening. What unfolds feels so much like a stripped-down riff on sci-fi classics like Predator or Aliens as members of 81’s squad are picked off one after the other. Survival means turning into scrappy and resourceful sufficient to outmaneuver an enemy that’s in contrast to something they’ve confronted earlier than. As Polygon’s Tasha Robinson wrote in her overview, there’s a robust thread of “competence porn” working by Battle Machine. The troopers are centered and environment friendly, the sensible stunts have real bodily weight, and the story strikes with the stripped-down effectivity of 1 lengthy chase sequence. “Battle Machine is a rip-roaring motion film that places the stunt choreographers by their paces, whether or not 81’s squad is getting blown off a rocky cliff or making an attempt to swim or rope-traverse precise Class V rapids,” she wrote. “Hughes’ concentrate on sensible stunt work, location capturing, and actual, bodily environments offers the film a gritty tactile really feel, and Netflix’s advertising and marketing leans closely on the shoot’s genuine bodily calls for.”
An enormous a part of what makes Battle Machine so dang watchable is its star. The story is straightforward and simple, with its characters drawn in broad strokes, permitting Hughes to emphasise Ritchson’s hulking physicality greater than in most of his different roles. It evokes a misplaced period of Hollywood motion films, when icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone smeared mud and paint throughout their faces earlier than wandering into the wilderness in opposition to hopeless odds.
At this level, Ritchson’s enchantment feels virtually bulletproof. Put him within the path of an alien conflict machine, a corrupt conspiracy, or simply about any form of menace, and folks will present as much as watch him punch his approach by it. I do know I’ll. Battle Machine is now accessible to stream completely on Netflix.
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