A bullet-riddled action thriller turns back the clock to become one of Netflix’s biggest hits

The humble crime thriller has proven itself 100 times over to be one of the streaming circuit’s most popular forms of filmmaking, with Netflix in particular specializing in either dropping in-house smash hits, or repurposing forgotten gems and introducing them to a brand new audience. Thunivu falls into the former camp, and it looks like subscribers can’t get enough.

As per FlixPatrol, the Tamil heist caper has rocketed up the platform’s global charts since being added to the library last week, and it currently ranks as the fifth most-watched feature on the worldwide watch-list. It’s in good company, too, seeing as the rest of the Top 5 is dominated by star-powered originals and high concept adventures, proving that the people know exactly what they want.

Ajith Kumar and his glorious beard headlines the ensemble as a mystery character ripped from the Tenet school of nomenclature who doesn’t even get given a name, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a force to be reckoned with. A gang of criminals are plotting a bank job, but when they make their move, they discover somebody’s already pulling the strings.

The unnamed protagonist is holding the financial institution for ransom, but he’s not at liberty to say who he is, why he’s there, or what his motives are. As the story progresses, Thunivu slowly puts more and more of its pieces on the board, and based on its current performance among audiences, it’s evident that there’s a whole heap of folks ready, willing, and desperately eager to find out how the plot resolves itself by the time the credits come up.