For whatever reason, Netflix’s star-studded originals often tend to be its weakest when it comes to critical acclaim, and the consensus is already beginning to form that Reptile won’t be avoiding the pitfalls to have blighted so many A-list exclusives before it.
Co-writer and director Grant Singer’s crime thriller finds Benicio del Toro’s grizzled detective seeking to uncover the truth behind the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, which inevitably throws up a string of revelations that threaten to turn both the case and his life inside out in a search for the facts.
As well as the Academy Award-winning actor in the lead (who also helped write the screenplay), Reptile additionally features Justin Timberlake, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Pitt, Ato Essandoh, and many others among its esteemed ensemble. Ahead of its Oct. 6 premiere on streaming, the film recently held a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, where enthusiasm was hard to come by.
Naturally, its status as a Netflix thriller packing big names, oodles of atmosphere, and a concept dripping in dirty, grime, mystery, and intrigue will guarantee bumper viewing figures for a week or two at the very least, but it does continue the concerning history of the platform roping in the biggest names in the business for projects that only live to disappoint on a critical level.
Not everything gets to be lauded as a classic, but a little more consistency would be nice when Netflix has all of the tools at its disposal to balance quantity and quality in equal measure.