Quietly Watching

  There is a particular pleasure in watching an actor who has nothing left to prove simply enjoy himself. Pierce Brosnan has reached that stage, and Fast Charlie — a small, darkly funny hitman movie that almost nobody saw when it quietly appeared in late 2023 — is built entirely around that pleasure. Three years later, it has climbed into the Netflix Top 10 in the United States, found by an audience that never knew it existed the first time around. It is exactly the kind of second life that streaming was supposed to give to films like this, and it could not have happened to a more deserving one. The Setup Charlie Swift is a fixer for the New Orleans mob, aging gracefully in a profession that does not usually allow it. He is precise, courteous, and very good at his job. The trouble begins when a hit goes sideways and the body he was supposed to deliver turns up missing its head, which makes proving the kill — and getting paid — rather complicated. To sort it out, Charlie ends up ent...