A critically acclaimed deep undercover streaming thriller

across Bleecker Strasse

Any film that deals with real or red-hot political issues—whether past, present, or hypothetical future—always risks provoking controversy. 2018 Beirut was no exception, even if it turned out to be a complex and tightly-knit tale of subterfuge that didn’t get the audience it deserved.

As accomplished in every way as one would expect from a screenplay from the pen Andor‘s Tony Gilroy and directed by The mechanic‘s Brad Anderson, Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike lead the cast in the 1980s story, in which the former’s ex-diplomat is called back into action to rescue a fellow member of the group who may be responsible for death responsible to his family.

Meanwhile, Pike’s undercover CIA agent finds her loyalty torn after being tasked with keeping Hamm’s character alive at all costs while ensuring the mission is successful. Beirut may have earned a strong 82 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, but even releasing it under two titles couldn’t save it from box-office disaster.

Known as The negotiator In the UK, worldwide box office sales of $7.5 million was a major disappointment, especially when the end product was of outstanding quality. Matters may not have been helped by the fact that the trailer came under heavy fire for perpetrating a “white savior” narrative, with backlash stretching from social media to newspaper columns.

Nonetheless, Beirut has brushed aside the backlash to scale up its new streaming target, with FlixPatrol calling the overlooked spy adventure one of the biggest hits on the OSN platform this weekend.