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Netflix’s tense new action thriller remains one of the biggest movies on streaming, three weeks after it was first released! Netflix has dropped some gigantic action movies so far. Charlize Theron’s Apex, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s The Rip, and Alan Ritchson’s sci-fi action mega-hit War Machine are some of the biggest action movies of this year. But, Netflix’s latest action thriller is standing shoulder to shoulder with those movies. What’s more impressive is that it doesn’t have any A-list stars to its name and was made for a fraction of the budget. All it has is a surprising true story and a growing fan base behind it.
Netflix is renowned for its true crime documentaries. But, arguably, its dramatizations of the events are even more interesting, and they don’t get much better than Facing El Chapo. Directed by Chava Cartas, Facing El Chapo is Netflix’s latest original action thriller. As the title suggests, the film follows two cops who have a surprising run-in with the notorious cartel leader, El Chapo, and are torn between their honor and millions in bribes to let him go. Released on Aug 21, the film has dominated Netflix for the past few weeks. Nearly a month into its run, it’s still one of the biggest movies on streaming.
TUDUM‘s latest weekly streaming figures are live, and Facing El Chapo is still raking in viewers by the millions. In its third week on streaming, Facing El Chapo has earned a staggering 7.1 million views, with 11 million hours watched. It may have lost the top spot on the Non-English Movies chart — The Secret Woman is in #1 with 19.3 million views — but Facing El Chapo is still the second most-watched Non-English movie of the week. Those viewership figures would also make it the third most-watched movie overall this week. The Whisper Man holds the top spot with 33.4 million views.
‘Facing El Chapo’ Is a Tense, Genre-Bending Thriller
The true story of Netflix’s Facing El Chapo is insane, but what’s more insane is how well the film blends various action influences into one fantastic movie that dramatizes the story in all the right ways. The film is told from the perspective of the two cops whose shift is turned upside down when they face El Chapo (hence the title) at a routine traffic stop. Their moral conflict feels like a cartel-based imitation of Training Day, while the ongoing government operation to bring in El Chapo, which the two cops find themselves caught in the middle of, has Sicario written all over it.
‘Facing El Chapo’ Finally Has a Rotten Tomatoes Score
Netflix
Facing El Chapo received almost no marketing from Netflix. Instead, it is simply the film’s intriguing premise, great performances, and tense action that have catapulted the movie up the streaming charts. It almost feels like a throwback to the good ol’ days of word-of-mouth marketing. This isn’t the first time MovieWeb has covered Facing El Chapo‘s success on Netflix. However, as the film has grown in popularity, it has finally spurred people to share their opinions of the film online. The movie finally has a Rotten Tomatoes audience score, sitting at a strong 79%.
