Glenn Powell’s A24 Revenge Thriller Misses the Mark with Split Reviews and a Sinking Rotten Tomatoes Score

A24’s How to Make a Killing opens this week, but Glen Powell’s revenge thriller is already splitting critics, debuting on Rotten Tomatoes with a bruising 51 percent.

Glen Powell has been on a heater, so this one caught me off guard. A24 drops How to Make a Killing this week, and early reactions are split right down the middle.

The score to beat (or not)

The movie opened on Rotten Tomatoes at 51%. For a Powell-fronted release with this ensemble, that is a surprisingly soft landing. Critics are generally into Powell himself, but the bigger knock is that the movie doesn’t deliver enough actual thrills or laughs to match its premise.

What people are saying

• Some found it watchable and wicked in the right ways. One reviewer called it a blend of heroics and nastiness with a sharp final note, and said it works as a piece of nasty comeuppance.

  'a nice blend of heroic and dastardly, plus a smart coda ... a watchable piece full of nasty comeuppance.'

• Others weren’t feeling the intensity or the comedy, calling it short on thrills and darker than it is actually funny.

  'somewhat less than thrilling and a darkly hued comedy that’s not as funny as it thinks it is'

• On the harsher end, one take tagged it as predictable and built on simple observations, while another positive read praised its throwback style and current-day bite. A separate review argued that its acidic jabs at modern money culture keep it airborne.

  'the film’s acrid riffs on the hidden depravity of the new greed culture keep it aloft'

The hook

The film follows Becket Redfellow (Powell), heir to a multibillion-dollar fortune who will stop at nothing to claim what he deserves — or what he thinks he deserves.

Cast and crew

Alongside Powell, the lineup includes Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris, Jessica Henwick, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Raff Law, and Bill Camp. Writer-director John Patton Ford is behind it — he last made waves with 2022’s Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza.

Old-school DNA

This one is loosely riffing on Robert Hamer’s 1949 classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, which explains some of the arch, retro flavor people are picking up.

About that title

The project has been in development since 2024 and recently ditched its original name, Huntington, in favor of How to Make a Killing. The switch surfaced once trailers started rolling out; nobody’s explained the change yet.

Bottom line: Powell seems to be doing his part, but the movie’s tone is the sticking point. If you’re into sleek revenge tales with a vintage edge, there’s enough here to be curious. If you’re chasing big laughs or white-knuckle suspense, temper expectations.