A former baseball star finds himself in a deadly New York City criminal underworld.

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In Darren Aronofsky's 2025 thriller, a disgraced athlete turned bartender is thrust into a chaotic fight for survival. After pet-sitting for a neighbor, he becomes entangled with Russian mobsters and a dangerous drug conspiracy, leading to a desperate, high-stakes race across the city to protect his life and family.

The film follows Henry Thompson, a man haunted by a past tragedy that derailed his professional baseball career and left him struggling with alcohol. Living on the Lower East Side in 1998, his quiet life is upended when his neighbor, Russ Miner, leaves him in charge of a cat named Bud. This simple favor spirals into violence after Russian mobsters arrive searching for Russ, who is secretly a drug dealer linked to the powerful Drucker brothers.

As Thompson navigates this treacherous web, he discovers a hidden key that unlocks a storage unit containing over $4 million. The narrative is a frantic pursuit involving corrupt detectives, vengeful criminals, and a series of betrayals. The protagonist's journey is marked by the loss of his girlfriend, Yvonne, and a climactic confrontation that forces him to confront the people responsible for his misery. Ultimately, Thompson manages to escape to Tulum, assuming a new identity while ensuring his mother receives a portion of the recovered funds.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the project is an adaptation of a 2004 novel by Charlie Huston. The production, which featured a score composed by Rob Simonsen and performed by the band Idles, faced significant financial challenges. Despite a net production budget of approximately $40 million, the film grossed $33.3 million worldwide, leading to its classification as a box office disappointment. Nevertheless, it earned a positive reception from critics, who praised the lead performance by Austin Butler.

The film's development was a long process, with earlier attempts to adapt the novel dating back to 2013. When it finally reached theaters in August 2025, the premiere was notably held in Puerto Rico to coincide with a concert residency by Benito Martínez Ocasio, who appears in the film. While it struggled to find a massive audience in cinemas, it has since seen improved performance through home video releases.

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