The Internet Is Going Bonkers Over Mel Gibson's New Movie
Mel Gibson hasn't had the smoothest couple of, well, decades. The actor and director has a controversial past, which includes allegations of racism and domestic abuse, and instances where he's made disparaging remarks about disenfranchised groups. As a result, while there was a time when any Mel Gibson film was just about guaranteed to put butts in theater seats — whether he was trying to free Scotland in 1995's Braveheart or teaming up with Danny Glover in yet another Lethal Weapon film — the acclaimed actor and Oscar-winning director's star has definitely fallen.
But ironically, in a year that has had a notable lack of theater seats in which to put aforementioned butts, Gibson looks to be making strides toward a comeback. The internet is giving some rousing rounds of applause to Gibson's latest movie appearance in a sci-fi action Hulu original. Gibson isn't the film's lead and he wasn't behind the helm as its director, but fans and critics alike are absolutely loving the flick, with some taking special note of his performance.
Mel Gibson's new movie is like Groundhog Day with crazy action
The movie that's making audiences remember why Mel Gibson used to be on top is Hulu's Boss Level. It's a fun, violent action film that adds itself to the growing list of movies such as 1993's Groundhog Day, 2014's Edge of Tomorrow, 2017's Happy Death Day, and 2020's Palm Springs – another Hulu original — that utilize the time-loop trope to tell their stories.
Frank Grillo — whom many will recognize as the treacherous Crossbones from 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier and 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron — stars in Boss Level as Roy Pulver. Roy is a Special Forces soldier stuck in an endless time loop, forced to relive the day of his death over and over again. Naomi Watts plays Roy's estranged wife Jemma, and her boss is Colonel Clive Ventor, played by Gibson. Ventor is the head of Dynow Labs, a defense contractor company, and is the man who breaks some terrible news to Roy before Roy himself dies too.
In the midst of Roy's many time loops, a suspicious murder continues to put Ventor on his radar, and from there, the two are set on a collision course filled with lots of explosions and more bullets than you could possibly count.
Boss Level is making believers out of its audience
A lot of casual movie-lovers and professional reviews seem to agree that while Gibson's new movie may not be breaking ground in the time-loop sub-genre, Boss Level is still unique among such films for how fun and unapologetically bloody it can get.
Plenty of viewers took to Twitter to praise the new sci-fi action flick. User @little_nikki told their followers, "If you like stuff like Groundhog Day, Russian Doll, Happy Death Day(2 u), then check out Boss Level on Hulu." Twitter user @geoff1106 agreed, calling Boss Level a "hugely entertaining time loop action film ... bloody and inventive with its tongue placed firmly in cheek." They also went out of their way to point out that they felt "Mel Gibson wasn't given as much [to] do as he could've" — pretty telling praise in a world where many would agree that less Mel Gibson is better than more.
Meanwhile, Twitterer @THE_Stefano_DLC put a little smack talk on their praise, writing, "BOSS LEVEL is like if GUNS AKIMBO was Good." And without saying whether they liked it or not, @1stFilmReviews on Twitter noted not only how bloody Boss Level is, but also how much of that blood belongs to its lead, tweeting their joke theory that Frank Grillo starred in the film in order to "dethrone Sean Bean with the most on screen deaths with just 1 movie."
Of course, it isn't just fans who are loving Boss Level. While the film's current Rotten Tomatoes score of 72 percent (as of March 15, 2021) indicates that not all reviewers are in love, it's won definitely some noteworthy critical praise. At IndieWire, critic Christian Blauvelt wrote that "Grillo gives Boss Level the thing most video game movie riffs lack: a pulse." Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said the film "takes a well-worn gag and injects energy, showing the genre is still a game worth playing." Writing for Den of Geek, Bernard Boo said of Boss Level, "It's a lot of fun to watch and one of the best showcases of Grillo's 'very particular set of skills' yet." More than others, Decider's Johnny Loftus was economical with his words, writing simply, "It's outrageous. Just go with it."