Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Netflix, TV and Film, Film, Crime, True Crime
Michael Slavin
The top film on Netflix is a new thriller based on a real-life situation in which a gunman took an Apple store hostage.
The incident occurred in Amsterdam when a man took the shop hostage in the middle of the day in a high-profile situation.
Taking place in 2022, a 27-year-old man stormed into an Apple store with a gun and what appeared to be explosives strapped to his chest and made a bizarre demand.
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Experts have spoken about how rare hostage situations such as this are in the Netherlands, particularly in such a public and open place.
Netflix’s newest film on it has been a massive success for the streamer, hitting the top of the charts in the UK as well as the entire world.
The film in question is called iHostage and, though it has topped the worldwide charts with 15,000,000 views and is based on a bonkers true story, has been met with incredibly mixed reviews.
While the film sits at a slightly below average score of 5.7 on IMDb, the Rotten Tomatoes score sits at an abysmal 18 percent from audiences.
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Telling a stylised version of the real-life story – one thing kept the same is the odd demands made by the gunman, Abdel Rahman Akkad.
Akkad, whose motives remain unclear to this day, asked for £171 million (€200 million), specifically in cryptocurrency.
He also demanded safe passage, holding his victims hostage for over five hours.
The film ends as it did in real life, with a bizarre incident ending with the conclusion of the ongoing standoff.
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As in real life one of the hostages, who is one of the leads of the film, runs out of the Apple store after being chosen to collect water being transported to the store by a police robot.
After he legs it, Akkad chased after him, with a police vehicle running him down in the street after he leaves the store.
Though he did not die immediately he would later die of his injuries.
Despite the shocking real-life story behind it and its number one global Netflix status, many fans are not convinced by the film.
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One tweet about the film said: “Netflix's iHostage. No need to say anything it's 0/10. Better to have this as a documentary and not a movie.”
Another tweet about the film read: “The only real hostages in this movie were me and my wife waiting for any sort of action to happen.
“Don’t be fooled by #1 in Movies today. iHostage was TERRIBLE.”
A third said: “How is iHostage number 1 on Netflix? Horrible acting.”