Fairly Forgotten Mel Gibson's Thriller With 20% on Rotten Tomatoes Suddenly Tops Netflix

Mel Gibson hasn’t been seen on the screen for a while now — many associate it with his pretty much criticized political views, but the actor hasn't vanished completely. In 2022, Gibson starred in a thriller called On the Line and, even though initially the movie was brutally ignored by the public, it’s currently getting a lot of attention on Netflix as the film has suddenly climbed to second place in the platform’s top chart in the US.

Though it doesn’t appear as a hidden gem in this case — the film got only 20% on Rotten Tomatoes and generally wasn’t praised that much by critics and viewers. On the Line wasn’t too impressive in terms of box office performance either, having got away from the theaters with only around $745,000 grossed – and that’s globally, not domestically.

The plot of the movie doesn’t bring anything extraordinarily new to the cinema’s archives: it mainly follows radio host Elvis Cooney who, at one of his shifts, receives a call from someone threatening to kill Cooney’s family right at the time when he’s on air.

The host then embarks on a search for the criminal that made an attempt upon his beloved ones’ lives. Sounds like something very similar to what Liam Neeson usually deals with on the screen — with the difference being that none of all that’s happening in On the Lines turns out to be a real threat.

Looking at this from the other side, the box office failure may be the exact reason why On the Line is doing so surprisingly well on Netflix right now — maybe most people just wanted to see it at home on their favorite sofa rather than in the cinemas, especially at the time when the COVID was still around.

One of the film’s few merits is none other than Mel Gibson himself — those who got to see the film praised at least the leading star’s firm acting. Be that as it may, the cinema has definitely witnessed Mel Gibson’s better performances, even though many of them may not be on Netflix right now.