Alan Ritchson’s 106-minute sci-fi action thriller is officially Netflix’s biggest streaming hit of 2026

Alan Ritchson is an trade unto himself. The Reacher star launched a success Prime Video sequence that is returning subsequent month with a derivative in tow. In the meantime, his upcoming revenge thriller Motor City already appears like a gritty cult traditional. Nevertheless it seems that we could already know what Ritchson’s largest success of 2026 can be.

In response to data not too long ago launched by Netflix, this navy sci-fi thriller drew 147 million views throughout the first half of 2026. Not solely was it Netflix’s most-watched movie with 11 million extra views than The Rip, however it additionally recorded 44 million extra views than Netflix’s most-watched tv sequence throughout that very same time interval. Should you haven’t watched it but, then now’s in all probability the time so you’ll be able to see what all of the fuss is about.

That is proper, the one factor greater than Alan Ritchson’s biceps is Struggle Machine’s completely staggering Netflix view depend.

Co-written and directed by Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard), Struggle Machine stars Ritchson as a anonymous soldier grappling with the trauma of shedding his brother within the line of obligation. Aliens invade the planet whereas Ritchson’s character, who’s given the candidate quantity 81, is taking part in a coaching train as a part of the Ranger Evaluation and Choice Program. An alien craft — basically a mecha — crashes into the woods the place the train is going down. What unfolds feels so much like a stripped-down riff on sci-fi classics like Predator or Aliens as members of 81’s squad are picked off one after the other. Survival means changing into scrappy and resourceful sufficient to outmaneuver an enemy that’s not like something they’ve confronted earlier than.

As Polygon’s Tasha Robinson wrote in her review, there’s a robust thread of “competence porn” operating by means of Struggle Machine. The troopers are centered and environment friendly, the sensible stunts have real bodily weight, and the story strikes with the stripped-down effectivity of 1 lengthy chase sequence. “Struggle Machine is a rip-roaring motion film that places the stunt choreographers by means of their paces, whether or not 81’s squad is getting blown off a rocky cliff or making an attempt to swim or rope-traverse precise Class V rapids,” she wrote. “Hughes’ deal with sensible stunt work, location taking pictures, and actual, bodily environments offers the film a gritty tactile really feel, and Netflix’s advertising and marketing leans closely on the shoot’s genuine bodily calls for.”

A giant a part of what makes Struggle Machine so dang watchable is its star. The story is easy and simple, with its characters drawn in broad strokes, permitting Hughes to emphasise Ritchson’s hulking physicality greater than in most of his different roles. It evokes a misplaced period of Hollywood motion films, when icons like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone smeared mud and paint throughout their faces earlier than wandering into the wilderness towards hopeless odds.

At this level, Ritchson’s attraction feels virtually bulletproof. Put him within the path of an alien battle machine, a corrupt conspiracy, or simply about any form of risk, and other people will present as much as watch him punch his method by means of it. I do know I’ll.

Struggle Machine is now accessible to stream solely on Netflix.