Critics Panned It, But Henry Cavill’s Action Thriller Is Crushing Streaming Charts
Henry Cavill’s panned 2018 crime thriller Night Hunter is storming Paramount+, muscling into the service’s most-watched ranks to close out December—a surprise comeback for a film critics wrote off.
Henry Cavill has a knack for popping up on streaming charts whenever the algorithm feels nostalgic. Case in point: his 2018 crime thriller Night Hunter is suddenly a hit on Paramount+, climbing into the service's most-watched list years after critics shrugged it off.
How big is the surge?
As of December 25, 2025, Night Hunter was sitting in the top five most-streamed movies on Paramount+. FlixPatrol, a site that tracks streaming charts, gives it a global score of 108, which is a strong late-December bump and a big turnaround from its sleepy debut.
What the movie is actually about
Cavill plays Detective Walter Marshall, a cop running a task force targeting a series of abductions tied to an online predator. The case seemingly cracks early when police arrest their main suspect, Simon Stulls. Then the floor drops out: the arrest raises more questions than answers, and the team starts to suspect the operation is wider and uglier than they thought. From there, the investigation becomes a psychological chess match while Marshall chases fresh leads.
Cast and key credits
- Henry Cavill as Detective Walter Marshall
- Ben Kingsley as Michael Cooper
- Alexandra Daddario as Rachel Chase
- Stanley Tucci as Commissioner Harper
- Brendan Fletcher as Simon Stulls
- Written and directed by David Raymond
- Runtime: 98 minutes
The rocky start
Despite the starry lineup, Night Hunter went straight to video-on-demand in 2018 and barely made a ripple. Critics were mostly unimpressed. On Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at 14% on the Tomatometer from 37 reviews. The audience score (the popcorn one) is more forgiving at 51%.
"It has an interesting idea which it toys with but never explores. Instead, Night Hunter embraces things other movies have done better, making it come across as unoriginal and predictable."
- Keith Garlington, Keith & the Movies
So why is it playing now?
Timing and Cavill. The holidays are prime time for catalog titles to resurface, and Cavill always draws a crowd, even for his lesser-loved entries. Whether you skipped it back then or want to see what the fuss is about now, Night Hunter is currently one of Paramount+'s most-watched titles. Just set your expectations accordingly: the movie is pulpy, not prestige, and the new attention does not magically change the reviews. But if you are in the mood for a moody, twisty cop-and-predator thriller with a stacked cast, it is an easy late-night click.