"John Wick Meets The Pitt" Action Thriller Is Officially One Of The Best Movies Of The Year
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The Surgeon, a brand-new action thriller starring Michelle Yeoh and Martin Freeman, just debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a stunning score from critics, proving that it'll be one of the best films of 2026.
In the film, Yeoh plays the titular surgeon, a woman now in retirement, who's held at gunpoint and ordered to operate on a gang member. Her co-stars in The Surgeon are Martin Freeman, Laurie Davidson, Yuri Kolokolnikov and Joseph Mydell.
After recently premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), early reviews for The Surgeon have now started making their way online, resulting in a debut Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%. So far, critics have called the movie shocking, gory, witty, entertaining, genre-bending and a thrill ride.
Some are comparing it to John Wick and The Pitt, which is very fitting considering producer Basil Iwanyk served in the same role on the Keanu Reeves-led franchise, and director/screenwriter Roshan Sethi is an actual surgeon. Erica Lee, Diarmaid McGrath, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Neil Shah, Steve Klinsky, Adam Kolbrenner, John Schoenfelder and Russell Ackerman also served as producers.
Sethi has already used his medical background in the entertainment industry as a writer on Code Black and co-creator of The Resident.
In these initial reactions, Yeoh has been singled out as a highlight of the film, with critics saying her performance is brilliant and that this is one of her best action roles in a long time.
Yeoh is best known for starring in movies like Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Wicked and Wicked: For Good, as well as the Star Trek franchise.
Her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once earned her an Oscar, Golden Globe and Actor Award for Best Actress. And just last year, she and her Wicked co-stars earned an Actor Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Meanwhile, Freeman also has a wide and varied filmography across his entire career, having appeared in films like Love Actually, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Hobbit trilogy and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and the TV shows The Office UK, Sherlock, Fargo and Agatha Christie's Seven Dials.
Freeman has also played Everett K. Ross in several Marvel Cinematic Universe projects on both the big and small screens, including Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Secret Invasion. In The Surgeon, the actor plays a crime boss. Over the years, he's won at the Emmys, SAG Awards and BAFTAs.
Both stars have major credits to their names. Now Yeoh and Freeman are acting together for the first time in The Surgeon, an action thriller that is already getting rave reviews from critics after premiering at TIFF. It's unknown when general audiences will get the chance to see the film, as a theatrical release date has not been announced yet.
- Release Date
- September 12, 2026
- Runtime
- 92 minutes
- Director
- Roshan Sethi
- Writers
- Roshan Sethi
- Producers
- Adam Kolbrenner, Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, John Schoenfelder, Lia Buman, Neil Shah, Patrick Wachsberger, Russell Ackerman, Steve Klinsky, Tim Headington, Diarmaid Odhran McGrath
Cast
-
Uncredited
-
-
Dónall Ó Héalai
-
Laurie Davidson
A retired surgeon is abducted and forced to perform an unauthorized operation under dangerous circumstances.
- Main Genre
- Action
- Executive Producer(s)
- Jay Schuminsky, Patrick White, Eoin Egan, Mahal Sourgose
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