The Death Stranding movie director’s breakout hit is climbing the Netflix charts

Have you seen Pig? You gotta see Pig. At least before the Death Stranding movie. It’s on Netflix right now!

Between the recently announced Elden Ring movie from the director of Annihilation and Civil War, and the reinterpretation of the Barney the Dinosaur canon from The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri, boutique film studio A24 is ready to shepherd in a new age of “cash-grab IP” movies over the next few years. Perhaps the most esoteric play — but with crossover potential based on vibes alone — is the company’s upcoming Death Stranding, a take on Hideo Kojima’s often-bizarre action-adventure series. Intended as a new story in the universe rather than an adaptation, the film comes from writer-director Michael Sarnoski, who seems like a perfect fit based on the grounded yet off-kilter world of the culinary revenge thriller, Pig.

Remember how I said you need to see Pig if you haven’t already?

The 2021 film stars Nicolas Cage in what might be his best role since 2021 (and yes I am considering Longlegs, Dream Scenario, Renfield, and those two seconds he appears as Superman in The Flash): Rob, a former chef who lives in a cabin in the woods with his truffle-hunting pig. Rob has rejected a Michelin-star life in Portland in favor of the forest of the Pacific Northwest, but when a group of pig-snatchers break into his home and snatch dat pig, the cook juliennes a path of revenge through a world he abandoned. 

That premise could easily explode into a chef-knife-wielding riff on John Wick. Sarnoski certainly builds a mythology worthy of The Continental, as Rob wanders through the restaurant’s world criminal underbelly. Cage’s character even winds up in a fight club for cooks. But Sarnoski always zigs where a stunt-maven would zag, letting Rob use his words — or take a tremendous beating — to make a point about what’s precious in life.

For most of his journey, Rob is accompanied by Amir (Alex Wolff), a budding supplier of organic goods who in a typical week would be peddling the hermit’s truffles to local restaurants. But in Pig, Rob needs a ride from the fringe of Oregon to the big city, and Amir is along for the Collateral-esque ride. From one scene to the next, Amir’s eyes are opened to the harsh realities of his occupation, and his soul is ripped in two by Rob’s monologues on the joys of life. (In Rob’s case, that means having a pig he loves.) Pig might be part of Kojima’s strand genre too?

Cage is often heralded — and snickered at — over his baroque approach to performance, but in Pig, he’s understated and unwavering. His scruffy face is beat to a pulp early on, and as his blood spills on hyper-white tablecloths, so does his trauma. He lays it all out there. In John Wick, Keanu Reeves does gun-fu. In Pig, Cage does philosophy-fu. (If you want to see Cage do gun-fu, he’s done that too… against aliens.)

Around the time A24 gave a Death Stranding movie the green light, Kojima made clear that he wants the movie version of his sprawling, futuristic game to feel intimate and alive. A director and studio could take a one-blockbuster-size-fits-all approach to the material, for sure, but hiring Sarnoski (who also directed the very solid A Quiet Place: Day One and the upcoming, undated Hugh Jackman movie The Death of Robin Hood) feels like a very pointed attempt at not doing that. 

Will Death Stranding: The Movie be a mainstream hit? The way Pig is skyrocketing on Netflix — the fourth biggest movie on the platform as of publication — seems promising.