Netflix’s latest widely released, star-studded original enters the Top 10

Thanks entirely to circumstances of its own, it’s much more surprising that a Netflix original with an intriguing conceit and an all-star cast isn’t greeted with apathy by critics, but Reptile is not one of the few who have bucked the trend.

To be fair, we should have expected such a response given that early reactions to its premiere last month were a million miles from universal enthusiasm, with the hard-boiled crime thriller having since slipped to a decidedly lukewarm. 43 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Of course, since it’s a Netflix exclusive that counts Benicio Del Toro, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Silverstone and Michael Pitt among its ensemble, the feature from co-writer and director Grant Singer has inevitably become one of the most big hits of the moment. By FlixPatrol, Reptile overcame its disappointing reviews to make the Top 10 in 93 countries around the world, which is still not enough to see it reach the top of the charts when the Spanish-speaking sensation Nowhere debuted the same day.

The narrative focuses on the aftermath of a brutal murder, with a grizzled detective falling into a conspiracy as he tries to unravel an increasingly complex case, a setup that has been Netflix’s bread and butter for quite some time. time. Again, it doesn’t matter what the critics think, as long as the platform plunges headlong into death, decay, and danger with a handful of recognizable names and faces.