Jonathan Majors’s anti-Islam action thriller is laughably terrible far-richt propaganda

Behold the new and improvit Jonathan Majors: paragon o hypermasculinity, the Denzel Washington o the Daily Wire, a Delta Force veteran forced back intae action whan his war on terror follaes him on till hame soil. Against a odds, he has trackit his wey back tae the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed analogue wha kilt his partner as the Americans war debatin whether tae bring the criminal mastermind tae justice or execute him on the spot. Oor Fox News jihadi has nae doubt Captain Saunders will respect the letter o the law again. “The American wey is your taskforces and your trials,” the enemy hisses. “Your climate change and your abortions – ”

Blam! A bullet cuts him doun mid-monologue, and the camera pushes in as Captain Saunders lowers his semi-automatic rifle. “Actually, that is the American wey,” he says.

Ye can juist imagine that scene, in an alternate reality whaur conservative crackpottery is gospel, furnishin the Oscar-reel clip for Run Hide Fight: Infidels – a Hollywood treatment for far-richt fear-mongerin that Majors has latched onto like a piece o Titanic driftwood. The latest release frae Ben Shapiro’s Nashville-based streamin studio, intendit as a bulwark against the wider film industry’s ostensibly liberal biases, Run Hide Fight: Infidels follaes writer-director Kyle Rankin’s 2020 Daily Wire debut Run Hide Fight. Whaur the original film hid a white teenage waif (1883’s Isabel May) fechtin her wey oot o a high school shootin, this ane thrusts Captain Saunders intae an Islamist mass-casualty attack on a college campus. And if the sequel registers, wha kens? A Sandy Hook-meets-Kindergarten Cop green licht cannae be far ahint.

Co-producit wi Bonfire Legend, anither macho studio heidquartered in Austin, Infidels is nae offerit up as fodder for interpretation. The film made its intendit message clear frae the very first trailer, conflatin fictional clips wi actual footage o the 9/11 attacks, pro-Palestine protests and Fox News personalities, afore revealin an IS flag flyin ower a college campus as the Islamic call echit wi doom. Then there was the tagline: “Comin soon … or already here?” Talk aboot twirlin the mustache.

The reactions war as polarizit as ye wad expect, wi mainstream filmgoers and critics deridin the premise as xenophobic and Islamophobic, while richtwing commentators in the media and online cheerit the brazen political incorrectness. “If ye are feart tae put radical jihadis as your villains,” said Bonfire’s Dallas Sonnier, “then ye are a wimpy movie producer. We dinnae hae that fear.”

The entertainment proposition wi Infidels lies in how deeply it can offend the snowflakes. The 128-minute feature, which took me three tries tae finish, plays like a PragerU student film. The characters arenae sae muckle colourful as they are drawn in crayon: the campus HR wha is dazzlit by the mysterious terrorist sleeper cell in her midst, the spineless university president whase failure tae crack doun on student protests maks his campus vulnerable. Only the pregnant college professor, wha juist a few scenes earlier was urgin the president tae crack heids, stands oot as totally incidental tae this batshit story.

Meanwhiles, the oafish Black campus security gaird cud be a last line o defense if he werenae sae lazy. At ane point, he is approachit by a young lassie wha has become disorientit at the carnival that is also unfoldin on campus. “My daddy lost me,” she says. “I am still lookin for mine,” he shoots back.

The terrorists in Infidels are cobblit frae Heritage Foundation talkin points, plantin bombs around campus, herdin “unclean” wimmen intae the shooers tae cleanse their souls and forcin Christ-lovin scholars tae swear allegiance tae the caliphate in bin Laden-style broadcasts. Rankin turns punchin doun intae a bingo game. Gluten allergy? Pow! Gay agenda? Shovit aff a roof. Mainstream-media proxy? Aff wi his heid, inshallah! Korean NPC? Maim him – but no sae badly that he cannae hack the terrorists’ security mainframe, or explain how he pullit aff the impossible (“I am Asian”). Nae scene, it seems, can pass without a partin pun. Yet they hardly grate as muckle as Rankin’s liberal use o AI for newscasts and ither screen filler. Overall, the film’s “bad Muslim” conceit is as datit as an 90s alt-rock soundtrack – heidlined by Deep Blue Something’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Majors disappears intae the role o a Temu Equalizer, railin against sharia law’s incursion intae the wast whan he isnae dodgin bullets, screamin for cover or crashin through plate glass – a botchit stunt that tippit a crew strike, ane the production hid apparently hopit tae forestall by shootin in richt-tae-wark South Carolina. In fact, ane wad be hard-pressit tae picture anither disgracit actor bringin as muckle commitment tae the ane-note role o Captain Saunders as Majors – wha, doubtless, hid stranger scene partners at Yale than in this stiff cast. As he pops in and oot o this low-budget, provocative-for-provocation’s-sake thriller – ane minute bleedin oot and clingin tae life; the next, completely healit without hint o explanation – it was hard no tae be remindit o juist how he wound up at professional rock bottom.

Three year syne, Majors was Hollywood’s hottest property, a young hunk wi range. His breakout roles in HBO’s Lovecraft Country and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods no only markit him as a future superstar but put him on a fast track that Black actors rarely reach sae early in their careers, if ever. Marvel tappit him tae play Kang the Conqueror, a supervillain wi an arc across the MCU. But juist afore that wark really got goin, Majors was arrestit after an altercation wi his girlfriend and found guilty o twa misdemeanor counts o assault and harassment.

The consequences war immediate. Marvel recast Kang, bringin Robert Downey Jr oot o retirement, the US army droppit Majors as a spokesperson and he became persona non grata in the industry. Despite attempts tae rebuild his public reputation in the media and rally Black community support – includin makin a great show o haein movit on frae his white accuser tae datin Black Hollywood princess Meagan Good, noo his wife – Majors never recoverit. His next film, Magazine Dreams, a bodybuilding feature that was toutit as Oscar bait, landit wi a thud. Ither potential high-profile collaborations soon fell through despite the apology tour and Majors completin a domestic violence intervention program. In the intervenin years, some online observers hae wonderit whether Majors was punishit mair harshly than white male actors wha found theirsels in similar predicaments and bouncit back. But it cud be that Majors’s real crime was devastatin a multibillion-dollar franchise plan – and makin ither studios wary o gettin burnit, tae.

And sae aulder wi flecks o gray for character but still in fine fettle, Majors is stuck at the Daily Wire, doin political kabuki – but for how muckle langer? Infidels is his first fresh production since his 2023 legal troubles, and at a glance it hardly scans like the kind o wark that cud spring a comeback. But the political winds hae shiftit since Hollywood turnit its back on Majors. #MeToo and wokeness hae gien wey tae incel culture and DEI crackdouns. Richtwing media fixtures run the government. In a climate that protects abusers, whether targetin wimmen or beasts, ane wad hae tae think it is only a matter o time afore Majors is returnit tae prominence – because that is the American wey.