The Rotten Tomatoes scores for The Killer’s Game are pretty polar between critics and audiences. This is the second time this year that Dave Bautista stars in a leading role, portraying an assassin named Joe Flood who gets misdiagnosed with a fatal disease. As Bautista expands his acting resume beyond Marvel and franchises, The Killer’s Game failed to impress critics and even became the actor’s lowest-grossing movie in his career after just collecting $2.6 million domestically on its opening weekend.
Despite some lows, The Killer’s Game seems to have at least won over audiences who did see the movie. On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score for the new Bautista movie is currently at 78%, based on over 100 ratings. This is in contrast to the critical score, which was calculated at a poor 39% per 33 reviews.
What The Killer’s Game Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Means For Dave Bautista
It Doesn’t Hurt Bautista’s RT Record.
While Bautista has been in the acting game for over a decade now, The Killer’s Game is one of the few times he had a leading role and the movie ended up in theaters. Before that, the wrestler-turned-actor had prominently featured in films, where he was part of a large ensemble cast (Guardians of the Galaxy and Dune franchises) or his lead movies ended up on streaming (My Spy: The Eternal City). His latest action comedy was ultimately a test to see whether Bautista can prove himself to be a leading action star of the same caliber as Jason Statham or Dwayne Johnson.
|
Dave Bautista Movies |
Critical RT Score |
Audience RT Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Army of the Dead (2021) |
67% |
75% |
|
Dune: Part One (2021) |
83% |
90% |
|
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) |
91% |
92% |
|
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) |
94% |
81% |
|
Knock at the Cabin (2023) |
67% |
63% |
|
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) |
82% |
94% |
|
Parachute (2023) |
81% |
91% |
|
The Last Showgirl (2024) |
88% |
NA |
|
Dune: Part Two (2024) |
92% |
95% |
|
My Spy: The Eternal City (2024) |
22% |
34% |
|
The Killer’s Game (2024) |
39% |
78% |
While The Killer’s Game became Bautista’s career low at the box office, the high audience score brings some hope, meaning it still has a chance to find an audience and some success via word of mouth. He still has a solid acting resume in the last few years, with a good chunk of Bautista’s movies receiving positive Rotten Tomatoes scores since 2021’s Army of the Dead. He also has one more movie coming out this year called The Last Showgirls, which currently has a score of 88%. Therefore, his Rotten Tomatoes record is still solid, with this year looking to record two fresh and two rotten movies.
Our Take On The Audience Response To The Killer’s Game
Audiences Always Respond Differently From Critics, & This Is Key For Action Movies
Considering I have seen The Killer’s Game in theaters, I’m not surprised that audiences responded better to the movie than critics. I even anticipated that the audience and critics would be divided on Rotten Tomatoes. While the acting wasn’t great and the story was cliché, the action sequences are the main spectacle of this movie. The fights and killings are violent and brutal, which is all that it takes to provide an entertaining enough popcorn action flick.
I also don’t believe this will hurt Bautista’s acting career, as he has been serious about his craft for some time now. This is particularly the case as he tries to find a footing beyond franchises and MCU movies. Given the audience response, The Killer’s Game will likely have streaming potential and experience similar success through those means. This is a typical trend for just about any action movie. Therefore, Bautista’s acting career still has a chance to grow, whether to become the next action star or to expand on his versatile choices.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
