On June 25, director Uwe Boll uploaded Citizen Vigilante in its entirety to the film’s official account on X. But there’s a catch.
If you want to watch Armie Hammer’s latest movie for free, you have a very short window. On June 25, director Uwe Boll uploaded Civil Guard in its entirety to the film’s official account on X.
But there is a catch. The post expires after only 48 hours and disappears on June 27 at 10 A.M.
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“The movie Hollywood doesn’t want you to see,” the caption read. Elon Musk subsequently retweeted the post.
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The action thriller, written, produced and directed by Uwe Boll, was released in select US theaters and digitally on June 19 through Quiver Distribution.
It follows Sanders, played by Hammer, who, after witnessing a violent crime, turns to vigilante justice, targeting criminals and corrupt officials. As his actions go viral, he becomes a polarizing public figure, celebrated by some, hunted by law enforcement and powerful enemies.
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Why Boll released the film on X
The film has attracted considerable controversy over its subject matter.
Germany’s FSK film ratings board withheld an age rating entirely, creating an effective distribution block preventing the film from being shown in cinemas, on television, on streaming services or through major retailers in the country.
Boll told Daily Telegraph: “The rating system refused to give us a rating in Germany, so now you can only see it if you bring a Blu-ray from Austria or Switzerland. I think they did it on purpose. It was a deliberate censorship decision. I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost in a six-two vote when I was told that the film called for violence against migrants.”
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He said the film drew inspiration from a 2016 case in Hamburg, where a group of teenagers gang-raped a 14-year-old girl and received only suspended sentences. He also cited recent unrest in Belfast as proof of the film’s timeliness.
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“The subject is so in our faces and if you look at what’s just happened in Belfast it’s incredibly timely. I’m hoping the film will be released in the UK sooner rather than later because I know in America there’s a lot of interest and response.”
“In Europe at the moment, people are shying away from making this kind of gritty political film, but I’ve always tried to smuggle politics into genre films. This is not a documentary, it’s a thriller, and I hope viewers respond to that,” he added.
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“It’s like we’re living in a completely crazy and absurd political environment, especially in Europe, where people have completely lost track. There’s a huge difference between so-called ‘hate speech’ and stabbing people in the neck. But facts don’t matter anymore.”
Review of ‘Citizen Vigilante’
Also with Costas Mandylor, Neb Chupin and Désirée Giorgetti, Civil Guard has an audience score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of release, but has received largely negative reviews from professional critics.
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BlackTodd Gilchrist writes, “The film is so stunningly bad that it almost feels like writer-director-producer Uwe Boll is deliberately sabotaging his star Armie Hammer, whose intended comeback can only be hurt by this project.”
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Jeffrey Wells from Hollywood Elsewhere wrote that he felt “so bad for Armie, as the film is so blunt and crude and more or less filled with hatred for ‘the other immigrant’ and lacks to establish a believable context and social realist background.”
The film marks Hammer’s most prominent role since his career collapsed following allegations of sexual assault and emotional abuse in 2021. An investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department was eventually concluded without charges being filed.
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Before the dispute, Hammer had appeared in David Fincher’s The social networkGore Verbinski’s The Lone Rangerand Luca Guadagnino’s critically acclaimed 2017 Call me by your namefor which he received a Golden Globe nomination.
Boll said he cast Hammer specifically because of his cancellation. “He wasn’t accused of anything, there was no trial. He was just a guy who was famous and going around. He’s a handsome, charismatic guy who could be James Bond,” Boll said. Daily Telegraph.
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