Veteran actor Mel Gibson has been in the industry for nearly five decades. He has dabbled in various genres and has also been behind the camera, making some truly epic films. From biblical epics like The Passion of Christ to war dramas such as Hacksaw Ridgethe filmmaker/actor did everything.

However, he may have lost a considerable fan base after his latest action film On the line. The action thriller experienced a new resurgence after its release on Netflix and has been annoying audiences ever since. The film’s B-movie treatment and the many ridiculous twists at the end have outraged fans online.

Mel Gibson’s On the line Gets on the fans’ nerves

Mel Gibson was a controversial filmmaker and actor. While his numerous legal problems and controversial films took center stage, he was known for his action hero persona in the 1980s, particularly with the Deadly weapon Franchise. He continued to appear in action films such as The Expendables 3 and more.

However, Gibson’s goodwill may be exhausted after his 2022 action thriller On the line recently resurfaced after its Netflix debut. In the film, Gibson plays the role of a radio shock jock who goes to work the night shift at the station and finds an anonymous caller threatening to kill his family and blow up the station if he doesn’t complete some tasks.

Although the premise was interesting, many fans seemed annoyed by the many twists at the end, which revealed that all of the film’s events were a prank played by Gibson’s character on the intern. Fans were even more upset when it was revealed that the intern had himself been pranking Gibson on his birthday, when it was shown that he had died.

So like “The Game”, but very terrible?

-Jedd the Jedi

I just watched it and I completely agree, that was the worst ending to a movie I have ever seen in my life. I am personally insulted that I just watched that. Horrible. Really fucking awful.

-Roman-Nord-9284

I’ll be honest, for the first 20 minutes I was pretty intrigued, but little by little the film lost its suspense and general excitement until it finally crashed and burned out at the end… I had a similar feeling to other films when it’s obvious that the writers hit a wall with the story and didn’t know how to get over it, so they just left it there.

-gouxerd

This film evoked a rage in me that I have rarely experienced in myself. I wanted to cancel Netflix immediately just to blame someone for this atrocity.

-BMactennis

I just watched this movie and specifically looked for a Reddit post about it so I could say how incredibly annoying and stupid the movie was. What a waste.

-Differently conscious

While some compare the film to David Fincher’s The game And detectivemany seemed to hate the film. However, some found the surprise ending unpredictable and therefore felt it met the requirements.

Mel Gibson’s On the line Co-star called the film’s script a magic trick

From reading all the reactions to Mel Gibson’s On the lineIt’s safe to say the film wasn’t a crowd-pleaser. Its initial release in 2022 wasn’t a great box office hit either, grossing $743,000 worldwide (via The Numbers). Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 20%.

However, actor William Moseley, who played Dylan aka Max, the intern who is made fun of by Mel Gibson in the film, mentioned that the script played like a pantomime and required a French director like Romauld Boulanger to pull it off. He told Pop Culturalist:

I read the script. It reads like a magic trick. It was one revelation after another. It fit very well with the French vaudeville style of mime that they do so skillfully. It is this misdirection and energy of illusion that led a French screenwriter and director to make such a good film out of this script.

The actor also mentioned that he accepted the script even before reading it for the first time because he knew Gibson was involved in it.

On the line is available to stream on Netflix.