Isn’t it nice when Netflix puts out a decent movie? Yes, the streaming juggernaut releases high quality efforts from auteurs like Scorsese and Del Toro, but then there’s the neverending parade of star-driven, empty calorie mediocrity; mostly paper thin comedy-action films with forgettable plots and vapid characters, whose only strengths come from the charisma of the actors playing them. At this point, Chris Evans is one of many likable actors who has made a few of these types of movies now, for multiple streamers, so it’s easy to assume Sacrifice will be another example. Yet lo and behold, this one actually feels like something with more commendable aspirations.

Evans plays movie star Mike Tyler here, attending a climate charity event on a Greek island while attempting a comeback after a public meltdown a year earlier. However, the event is interrupted by a cult-like group of radicals, led by Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy), who take everyone hostage at gunpoint.

And then… things actually go quite differently than you’d expect from a Netflix movie with this set-up and these stars. Because it’s incredibly easy to imagine the version of Sacrifice where Evans’ Mike must rise to the occasion, putting his movie star training into real world use… for halfhearted comedy-action hijinks.

But director and co-screenwriter Romain Gavras and his co-screenwriter, Will Arbery, have something more cerebral in mind. So while there are comedic moments to the film, especially early on, the story is actually focused on Mike as a man adrift – well aware of the performative nature of the rich, famous and powerful people he’s among – and what happens when he comes face to face with a group of genuine, albeit most certainly violent, activists.

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