Many people thought that Mel Gibson‘s career was over after he was caught on tape saying some pretty awful things during a troublesome period in his personal life, compounded by his admission that he’d been battling alcoholism for decades, and while he’ll never recapture his position in the upper echelons of the Hollywood A-list, the 65 year-old has been more prolific than ever over the last few years.
He may have only directed one feature in that time, but Hacksaw Ridge won two Academy Awards and was nominated for another four including Best Picture and Best Director, while he even came close to helming a couple of big budget comic book blockbusters. Robert Downey Jr. admitted he would’ve made Iron Man 4 had Gibson been calling the shots, and he was in talks for The Suicide Squad before the studio went with James Gunn.
Instead, the grizzled veteran has settled into a late-career groove lending his world-weary gravitas to a series of B-level action thrillers, with his latest outing Boss Level proving to be hugely popular with both Hulu subscribers and critics. The time loop adventure stars Frank Grillo in the lead role as a former soldier reliving the same day over and over again as he tries to edge closer to Gibson’s villain, rescuing his estranged wife and saving the world in the process.
Boss Level can be summed up in broad strokes as Groundhog Day meets Jason Statham’s demented Crank duology with a little bit of Edge of Tomorrow thrown in for good measure, and it somehow manages to pull it off. Joe Carnahan’s latest has drawn solid reviews and sits on a strong 76% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s also the most-watched movie on Hulu after releasing ten days ago.
