It’s the birthday of iconic actor Bruce Willis today, so let’s celebrate a legend with five of his movies streaming on Netflix.
Any film fan out there will have an abundance of treasured memories of watching Bruce Willis work his magic. Whether it’s The Sixth Sense or Pulp Fiction, some of his movies are among the reasons I got so heavily into cinema, and Christmas just doesn’t hit right without Die Hard. On Tuesday, March 19th 2024, the actor turns 69, and there really is no better way to celebrate than checking out some of his movies. Netflix has some you will definitely have seen, and others you very likely haven’t…
Cosmic Sin
The 2021 sci-fi movie Cosmic Sin was severely slammed by critics, but it’s worth making your own minds up considering it’s ready to stream at home on Netflix. It’s shlocky and fun if you’re willing to strap in for the ride.
Co-starring Frank Grillo and Brandon Thomas Lee, the film is set in the year 2524 after centuries of humanity’s colonization of neighboring planets. Bruce plays General James Ford, who is called out of retirement following an alien attack.
The intergalactic ambush escalates into the onset of war, and he’s tasked with leading a battalion of soldiers to organize a defense.
- JUST ADDED: New to Netflix this week
Glass
Speaking of The Sixth Sense earlier, Bruce later collaborated with director M. Night Shyamalan on the 2000 film Unbreakable, which has gone on to be considered something of a modern classic.
In 2019’s Glass, the pair reunited for a sequel set many years later, with Bruce’s character David Dunn locked in a mental facility with Samuel L. Jackson’s Elijah. Continuing on from the 2016 movie Split, they’re in there with James McAvoy’s villain The Horde, all three of them forced to grapple with their powers.
It was a worthy way to cap off an unexpected trilogy and stands out as one of the director’s
better efforts in more recent years, aided by a great Bruce performance.
Looper
My favorite movie on this list by far, Looper is just one of the great movies that Rian Johnson made before he split the Star Wars fandom in half with The Last Jedi.
Released in 2012 to great acclaim, Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, a hitman whose job is to executive people when they’re transported back in time by a criminal organization. One day, he’s startled to find his older self before him, and a botched job leads to a surreal sci-fi manhunt for himself.
It’s an intriguing concept orchestrated remarkably. I’d argue it’s actually one of Bruce’s finest, nuanced roles.
Survive The Night
In this 2020 action thriller from filmmaker Matt Eskandari, we follow the survival efforts of a doctor and his family when criminals break into their home.
Tense and packing a wallop in its lean 90-minute runtime, it’s a home invasion movie that’s worth seeking out if you’re a Bruce fan. Like many of his later career titles, it wasn’t well-received by critics, but I had a pretty good experience with this one in contrast to a host of others in a similar vein.
Trauma Center
From the same filmmaker as Survive The Night, 2019’s Trauma Center is about a woman who receives an injury when caught in the crossfire of two feuding corrupt cops.
It’s down to Bruce’s Lieutenant Steve Wakes to take care of her, but the two cops decide they can’t have her talk and hatch a plan to ensure her silence. Can she survive in the lieutenant’s custody? Can he?
Again, it’s one of the actor’s critical failures of recent years, but as a fast-moving action movie with a compelling plot, I yet again had fun with this one.
- BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: I’ve finally started The Wire
