There’s plenty of great Idris Elba roles out there. From gritty British dramas to outstanding American series, Idris Elba has been packing punches and charming his way in and out of trouble for years now. And in doing so, the Luther star has made himself a household name.
Bastille Day (alternatively titled The Take in North America), is a thriller movie that stars Elba as CIA agent Sean Briar and Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden as Michael Mason. The movie follows the chaos that follows after Mason, a pickpocket, steals woman’s handbag. He throws it away on the street not knowing that there’s a bomb inside.
When it detonates and kills innocent people, he must go on the run. Meanwhile Elba’s Briar is tracking him down, and decides to help clear his name when he realizes that he’s a man caught in the crossfire of a much larger plot.
Interestingly, the 2016 action movie has risen the ranks on Netflix suddenly. At the time of writing, it sits at number three in the Netflix Top Ten chart in the UK.
It’s an interesting movie to suddenly appear in the rankings, since it was received…well, just fine. It currently sits at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning it’s not quite the best Idris Elba movie there is.
That said, we quite like it. If you’re in the mood for a drama movie with plenty of big action set pieces and explosions that doesn’t require you to pay too much attention, there are worse things to watch.
Bastille Day is a revolutionary day in Paris, and actually takes place on July 14. Though the timing makes some sense, there’s really no reason for this movie to have hit the Netflix charts so many days later, and in the UK no less. That said, we’re not exactly complaining. Any Elba is good Elba, after all.
For more high-stakes action, take a look at what we thought of the new MI movie with our Mission Impossible 7 review. And for an even bigger bomb, get to know the Oppenheimer cast and Oppenheimer release date. You can also take a look at our feature on the art of the Keanu Reeves one-liner.
Otherwise, get to know the rest of the new movies coming out this year, and see if Idris Elba pops up on our list of the best movies of all time! There’s also plenty more to see on Netflix, as you can tell with our guide to everything new on Netflix this month.