Critics Adore The 2023 Pierce Brosnan Action Thriller That's Taking Over Netflix's Streaming Charts

Netflix is home to more than just relentless subscription price hikes. Sometimes it's overlooked Pierce Brosnan action thrillers, too. 2023's "Fast Charlie" saw the former James Bond star portray a mob operative on the verge of retirement and went mostly overlooked upon its initial release. Not only did the film garner impressive reviews, but it's also now climbing the Netflix charts, suggesting this is one veteran mobster you should pay attention to.

The film is directed by Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce, whose expansive credits include the Val Kilmer-led "The Saint" and Angelina Jolie's 2010 action thriller "Salt." "Fast Charlie" sees him team up with yet another screen legend, Brosnan, who's been on something of a tear in the past few years. Brosnan's star-studded 2025 murder mystery was a Netflix gem while his brilliantly over-the-top performance as Irish mob boss Conrad Harrigan in the perfect "Yellowstone" replacement "Mobland" is easily one of his most memorable — and that's saying something.

"Fast Charlie" was yet another win for Brosnan, at least in terms of the critical response. The film had a very limited theatrical run alongside its video-on-demand release back in December 2023 but, predictably given the lack of promotion, didn't make much of an impact. That is, it didn't have much impact on audiences. Critics, however, were very impressed by Brosnan's familiar yet fun action thriller, which has since climbed the Netflix charts.

You can't go wrong with a film that starts with Pierce Brosnan stripping off, and that's exactly what happens in "Fast Charlie." We first meet Charlie Swift as he's taking off his clothes in a junkyard and lamenting that he had foreseen his current circumstances long before they came to be. Just what kind of trouble Brosnan's fixer is in remains unclear throughout this opening scene, but we quickly flash back to the past to see how Swift wound up in his undies.

It seems the retired Marine Officer and mob assassin fulfilled his contract to kill a man, but since the victim was missing his head, Swift was going to have a hard time convincing his client that he'd whacked the right mark. That client happens to be ruthless New Orleans mob boss Beggar Mercado (Gbenga Akinnagbe), and to convince him he killed the right man, Charlie needs the help of his victim's ex-wife, Marcie Kramer (Morena Baccarin). When Charlie and his fellow killer Blade (Brennan Keal Cook) take the body to Marcie, however, things quickly go awry, kicking off a wild odyssey that sees Charlie and Marcie try to take down Beggar while trying to preserve the legacy of Charlie's mentor, Stan Mullen (James Caan).

Adding a bit of a tragic note to an otherwise delightfully off-the-wall crime thriller adventure, Stan Mullen was Caan's final performance before his death in July 2022. The actor passed away before the film could debut, but while "Fast Charlie" might not be one of Caan's greatest films, he managed to deliver what Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com described as a "poignant and charming" performance — and he wasn't the only good thing about the film.

"Fast Charlie" wasn't exactly a phenomenon, but it impressed most critics. An 83% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes speaks to the film's standing as a quality action thriller — or at the very least a similarly fun weekend watch to Maggie Q's action thriller "Protégé — that delivers on its promise of an unpredictable thrill ride through the criminal underworld.

Much like with "Mobland," Pierce Brosnan has a wonderful time in the lead, with Richard Roeper commending his "wry sense of humor" for propelling "this slick and violent piece of pulp entertainment." Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck thought Brosnan's "ageless charm" helped set him apart from the multitude of "cinematic aging hitmen looking to retire to a more peaceful life." Indeed, "Fast Charlie" doesn't try to reinvent the action thriller and is a fairly formulaic story in its "badass on the verge of retirement gets pulled into one last job" framework. But Brosnan's performance and his chemistry with co-star Morena Baccarin make the movie feel like more than a tired retread of genre clichés.

So too does Phillip Noyce's embrace of the clichés. David Ehrlich of IndieWire certainly thought so, writing that what made the movie "charming instead of trite" was that "Noyce's film treats its ultra-familiar tropes as more of a feature than a bug." Perhaps that's why (per FlixPatrol) the movie has blasted its way up the Netflix charts like an aging mob hitman with something to prove. 

"Fast Charlie" debuted at number six on the United States movie charts on June 5, 2026, and has since climbed to number two. If you want to help Brosnan's fixer reach the top spot, the movie is available to stream right now.