A Relatively Unknown 2023 Film Just Became One Of Netflix's Top 5 Movies

Netflix's Global Top 10 is ever-changing and brings all sorts of unique films you might've missed to the forefront.  Obtaining 9.1 million views in one week, Mauro Borrelli's "Mindcage" was the second-most-popular movie after Netflix's high-flying heist film "Lift." The "Silence of the Lambs"-like thriller sees Lawrence as Detective Jake Doyle, who, along with his partner, Detective Mary Kelly (Melissa Roxburgh), enlists the help of an imprisoned serial killer known as "the Artist" (John Malkovich).

The thriller saw a limited release in theaters and was sent straight to VOD. But that's what Netflix is for, right? The film currently sits at 18% on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 critic reviews, but thanks to its second life on Netflix, its Audience Score is much higher at 66%.

One of the complaints critics have about "Mindcage" is that it takes from the greats and fails to reach the same level. Spectrum Culture's Miyako Pleines summarized, "A movie about a copycat killer can't resist being a copycat itself, often relying on tired tropes from better films," while Fran Hoepfner of TheWrap gave her review the subheading "clichéd serial-killer tale aspires to follow in the footsteps of 'Silence of the Lambs' and TV's 'Hannibal' but goes nowhere."

The film marks one of the rare occasions Martin Lawrence has ventured away from comedy, which is a fresh take for fans. Does he stick the landing, though? As AV Club's Brent Simon argues, "Malkovich and Martin Lawrence aren't enough to elevate director Mauro Borrelli's throwback to 1990s serial killer films." Thankfully, Lawrence will be back to what he's good at when he reunites with Will Smith in "Bad Boys 4," which is set for release on June 14.

Check out "Mindcage" now on Netflix.