Outside the Wire takes place in the near future, where Eastern Europe has erupted in civil war, and the US has been called in as peacekeepers. Drone pilot Harp (Damson Idris) is in hot water after disobeying a direct order that results in the deaths of two Marines. His punishment is to be sent to work with lone wolf Capt. Leo (Anthony Mackie) as he goes on a mission to deliver vaccines to sick civilians. He learns two things though: Leo is an android, and he's not just delivering vaccines, he's been sent in to prevent a baddie named Koval (Pilou Asbaek) from getting his hands on some nuclear launch codes for nuclear weapons based in the Ukraine. But if things were already not as they seemed, is there more Harp needs to uncover?
This isn't a bad deal, but I don't know where that gets you. I guess this could've come out in the late 90s, gotten a theatrical release, made eight figures at the box office, then maybe been rediscovered thirty years later and gotten an Arrow Films Blu-ray. The thing is, I don't think that's such a bad deal, and Netflix has been filling this gap in the market that the major studios don't want to touch anymore. Later I'll get into the fact that I think the problem is them filling the gap means these don't get a theatrical release, but at least for now I think taking this on its face, it's a decent sci-fi actioner that we used to see more in the theaters. A big piece of why this works is Anthony Mackie, he's a next-level screen presence that belongs in theatrical releases, but because of the reality of the market, we get him in a direct to Netflix film. The other big piece is Hristov Diyan's work as stunt coordinator and second unit director (for which he was uncredited). All of the action looked great, and again, it's the kind of stuff that belongs on the big screen. As with most Netflix movies, the runtime is a bit long, but almost 9 minutes of that is credit padding, so it's more like a 105-minute movie, which isn't quite as bad. If you have Netflix and are looking for something to watch, this is worth checking out.
I discovered that this post is doing double duty, because it also serves as Hristov Diyan's entry into the 40 Club! He's the third stunt worker to earn that distinction, after Art Camacho and Cole S. McKay. Unlike those two who got their starts in the late 80s/early 90s, and did a lot of work making that era the Golden Age of DTV action, Diyan starts in 1999 with Bridge of Dragons, and he comes in during a transition period, where the big studios were getting into the DTV game, as were big screen names like Seagal and Van Damme, while at the same time the DTV market was shifting from Erotic Thrillers to actioners, many of which were being shot in Eastern Europe. If you look at his career in the 2000s, it's a lot of doubling for Dolph, Van Damme, and especially a Seagal who was increasingly doing less and less of his own action sequences. From there, as Nu Image becomes Millennium Films, and they start working in bigger things, like The Expendables and the [X] is Down films, he stepped up into bigger stunt roles, and as we can see from a movie like this, he's well up to the task. Like most stunt workers, he's someone who only appeared on my radar recently, but all that time he was a large part of making the movies we love the movies we love. Here's to you Hristov Diyan, you're one of the great ones.
Let's get into some Anthony Mackie here, because the energy shifts the moment he enters the movie. To me it highlights the raw deal he got with that Brave New World movie, because while Chris Evans's three Captain American films were three of the best MCU movies, from conception to execution, Brave New World was beset by production issues, and ended up being a sautéed in wrong sauce backdoor sequel to The Incredible Hulk, something no one was asking for. Mackie's performance in this film is a reminder that he deserved better. It's almost like he saw this role as his Denzel Washington in Training Day moment, but also knew enough about how this character differed from Washington's, and could take it in the different directions this movie needed. It's like I'm watching the movie and enjoying Mackie's performance in it, but also thinking how with all the things Kevin Feige and the MCU have gotten right--especially now with Spider-Man: Brand New Day blowing up for $2.5 billion this summer--the thing they need to fix is getting Mackie's Sam Wilson the Captain America movie worthy of his talent.
The other three names in this that I recognized were Damson Idris, Emily Beecham, and Michael Kelly. They all did what you'd want them to do as bigger names, and from Netflix's standpoint, they work to put their films in this middle space between the major studio theatrical releases, and the kinds of DTV stuff I review on here. And as I talked about, they also fill a gap for actors looking for work who can't find the roles they once did with all the studio consolidation and fewer big screen productions and TV shows being made. It's a reason why I tend not to review them though, because with names and production values like this, they don't exactly embody the spirit of what I intended the site to be--in fact, the movie I was going to do was Re-Kill with Scott Adkins, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so this felt like the next best thing. When we started the site in 2007, there was no such thing as straight to streaming, Netflix Instant was just starting, and the idea that they would be producing their own content was far from our thoughts; then I went on hiatus, and when I came back, everything was straight to streaming, including me, I almost never watch a new movie on DVD anymore. I guess there's no guidebook on how to run a site about direct to video movies, so I'll figure it out as I go.
Finally, sticking with Netflix, earlier this year they were the front runners to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max's TV studios, and during that time the CEO of Netflix was talking about how people don't like going to the movies anymore, and the standard theatrical window before a film goes to streaming needed to shrink. Here we are now though, and David Ellison was able to use daddy's borrowing power to get enough money to acquire not only Warner and HBO Max, but all the cable TV assets Netflix didn't want too, and while that may have been the smart play for Netflix, they've been hemorrhaging subscribers while 2026 has been one of the biggest years for theatrical releases in years. I think a big part of that is the high price of other activities, like concerts, eating out, and sporting events; but also the big studios are putting out more things that more people want to see. That's where a movie like this is a good case, because before streaming this would've gone to the theaters, and is it possible that movies like this will get theatrical releases again? Even a month-long window would be better than nothing. That's if this current trend continues, but the pendulum could swing back toward streamers having more run again; or the fact that we're seeing so much consolidation may mean even with the theaters doing better, streamers are still the only options, but they aren't printing money anymore, then we end up with nothing, and a movie like this doesn't even see the light of day. It's scary to think about, but worth keeping in mind too as a consequence of the market shifting.
And with that, let's wrap this up. Netflix is the only way to go for this, so if you have a subscription and are looking for something to watch, this is worth a look. And congratulations again to Hristov Diyan on his induction into the Hall of Fame. It is greatly deserved.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10451914/
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