Netflix subscribers have been left divided over the ending of a recent chart-topping hit.
Each day, the service adds a new original release, alongside licenced titles – films and TV shows that were previously released elsewhere.
The latest licenced acquisition to take the service by storm is Bull, a violent revenge thriller starring Neil Maskell, the British actor most recently seen in Apple TV+ series Hijack.
Bull is directed by Paul Andrew Williams, whose previous projects include London to Brighton and the Stephen Graham TV series The Walk-In, and follows Maskell’s eponymous character who takes down members of his former gang, led by his father-in-law (David Hayman), to find his son.
The film has drawn many comparisons to Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes – but the ending sets Bull aside as something very different.
*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*
Throughout the film, the gang members Bull (Maskell) is hunting are shocked to discover that he’s returned following an unspecified event in the past. It turns out that’s for good reason: they all conspired to kill Bull, and succeeded.
In the closing moments of the film, previous scenes are replayed to show Bull with completely black eyes, and it’s hinted that Bull, after being killed, made a deal with the devil to return and avenge his death.
The ending has split audiences down the middle.
“Just watched Bull on Netflix. It’s mad. Nobody will see the ending coming,” one viewer wrote. “That’s quite the twist,” another concurred. One Netflix user wrote: “Watched Bull on Netflix and yeah, it’s incredible. What an ending.”
Neil Maskell in ‘Bull’— (Signature Entertainment)
However, some believed the twist spoilt the film: “Bull on Netflix… decent until the silly ending,” one viewer wrote, with another agreeing: “Just watched Bull on Netflix… really enjoyed it and then the most stupid ending.”
Another person disliked the ending so much they, somewhat harshly, called it “the worst to a film I have ever ever EVER seen”.
At the time of writing, Bull has been toppled from the top spot in the most-watched charts by new arrival Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Also released this weekend on the streamer is a new Gal Gadot film branded “drab and “disappointing” by The Independent.
Meanwhile, Netflix subscribers have been left distraught by the news that a beloved series is coming to an unexpected end next month.
