Citizen Vigilante, a new film starring Armie Hammer, has topped the U.S. Amazon chart for movie purchases.

The film, directed by Uwe Boll, is a German-produced action thriller that depicts Hammer as an American businessman in Europe who becomes "a feared vigilante who targets violent criminals, rapists and corrupt judges," according to the synopsis.

In an email shared with Newsweek, Boll said, “The reason that CITIZEN VIGILANTE turned into a massiv [sic] hit without any advertising budget is very simple: the power of social media.”

“The movie shows an inconvenient truth what all other movies out there don’t want to show or try to sugarcoat in their productions. The audience wants real films again - bold and with impact and about reality. The times of SUPERGIRL and all that c*** are over,” Boll said.

Boll’s comments make a direct comparison to the recent blockbuster film Supergirl, the second outing from James Gunn’s DC Studios, which stars House of the Dragon breakout star, Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, Superman’s female cousin.

Supergirl has been used as a point of comparison with Citizen Vigilante, which has quickly become popular among right-wing commentators who have framed it as a film that is being suppressed. The popular right-wing account, Libs of TikTok, wrote on X, “Citizen Vigilante just hit #1 on Amazon Prime! This is the biggest F U to Germany and the open border globalists who really don’t want you to see this movie.”

Supergirl produced an underwhelming opening weekend, grossing just $38 million and on pace to be a loser for the production studio, according to a Variety report. It is among a number of high-profile superhero movies featuring a female lead that have come out in the last decade, as comic-based movies have dominated Hollywood since Iron Man's release in 2008. Several films headlined by female leads have faced criticism from the right and have struggled at the box office.

Citizen Vigilante has ignited controversy on account of its extreme violence and what critics have called an anti-immigration stance. One scene that has been widely shared online shows Hammer's character shooting multiple members of a migrant family dead in retribution for an alleged rape. The film has been effectively banned in Germany, where it was refused a rating.

The film also marks a return to a mainstream project for 39-year-old Hammer, who faced a series of sexual abuse and misconduct accusations against him in 2021. Hammer has denied any wrongdoing, and no charges were ever filed.

Newsweek has contacted a representative for Hammer for comment via email.

Citizen Vigilante has gained support from major voices on the right, including Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. It has been praised by voices on the right who say it challenges mainstream views on immigration. Musk, a former top adviser to President Donald Trump, has made the film temporarily free to watch on X, the social media platform that he owns.

Critics of the film have argued that it promotes anti-immigration messaging and violence, and have expressed concerns over Hammer’s return to the screen.

Citizen Vigilante tells the story of an American man living in an unnamed European city who is angered by violence perpetrated by migrants and takes the law into his own hands by killing immigrant criminals and corrupt officials.

In an interview with right-wing influencer Jack Posobiec on Real America’s Voice, Boll said, "The movie is dedicated to all the women in Europe who got left alone by the law," he said. "So many cases of random rapes, random stabbings, random violence happened based on mass migration."

Boll has criticized the film's ban in Germany, calling it censorship. He said he was told the film was not given a rating due to “inciting violence against migrants.”

Citizen Vigilante is Hammer’s first leading role since the allegations against him in 2021, though he appeared in the film Frontier Crucible in 2025.

Speaking to Louis Theroux in 2025, Hammer said of the allegations against him “I think that that’s the narrative that was put out there, I think the timing was really unfortunate, I think that it all, the confluence of sort of the Me Too movement, people locked in their apartment during COVID, people being unhappy and miserable and having a sensational story to follow, where it almost felt like there was a mass hysteria going on.”

Hammer was accused of rape and physical abuse by a woman known as Effie, who alleged that he had raped her in 2017. At the time, she shared screenshots of graphic texts allegedly sent by Hammer. This included one where the actor appeared to declare himself a cannibal.

Two other women came forward with allegations of sexual coercion and emotional abuse, from 2017 and 2020.