In a geographically undefined “Europe,” the vigilante Sanders (Armie Hammer) goes around shooting immigrants. In one scene, he murders a Muslim family after their son is acquitted of rape.
German director Uwe Boll has been known as “the world’s worst director” since the early 2000s after films like “Postal” and “House of the Dead.” “Citizen Vigilante” was inspired by a case in Hamburg where a group of teenagers raped a young girl and left her for dead. Boll claims that “the public wants real movies again” - movies about “reality,” according to an interview in Newsweek.
Banned in Germany
The avenger in "Citizen vigilante" murders criminals but also police officers, judges and completely innocent people who happen to be on the same highway. The film has been banned in Germany, but is liked by the world's richest man Elon Musk, who posted it for free for two days to his 240 million followers on X.
“This is the biggest ‘fuck yout’ to Germany and the open-border globalists who don’t want you to see this movie,” wrote the right-wing account “Libs of Tiktok,” after “Citizen Vigilante” reached Amazon’s number one spot for video-on-demand (VOD) in the US. At the time of writing, it is also number two on Apple’s VOD chart in the US.
Released in the rest of the world
After days of memes and angry discussions since Elon Musk's "intervention", it became clear on Tuesday that "Citizen Vigilante" has secured global distribution. But not in the UK, German-speaking territories, South Korea and Taiwan. Prime Video's press department in Sweden does not yet know if the film will land on their platform.
Variety's reviewer describes the film as "morally bankrupt" and, like many critics, believes that the film is not only racist, but also "so astonishingly bad that it almost feels like the screenwriter, director and producer are deliberately sabotaging their star Armie Hammer."
"I could have done a commercial for cat food. I just wanted to work again," actor Armie Hammer recently told the Hollywood Reporter about the role.
He had success with "Call Me by Your Name" but was blacklisted in Hollywood in 2021 after allegations of rape. Hammer was never convicted, but his comeback is unlikely to restore his image. However, he seems to have secured the role in a potential sequel. The working title is "Citizen vigilante 2: the end of the Somali scams".
Facts: "Citizen vigilante"
Director: Uwe Boll
Starring: Armie Hammer, Nick Searcy and more
Genre: Thriller/action
Premiere: June 19, 2026 (vod, USA)
Plot: A man loses faith in the legal system and begins to administer "justice" himself, by murdering immigrants, corrupt officials and police officers.
Reception:
Reactions have been polarized. Right-wing conservatives have praised the film. Breitbart describes it as “a brutal counterpoint to modern Hollywood.”
The more left-leaning The Guardian writes that the film is “completely incoherent and dangerously inflammatory.”
