Agatha Christie Meets Jack Reacher In This Bloody 2014 Action Thriller That's Streaming For Free On YouTube

Published Sep 4, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW. It's a meeting of literary giants in this guilty-pleasure action thriller, which blends Agatha Christie with Jack Reacher. If the Jack Reacher book series had arrived during the 1980s, the likes of Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger would have undoubtedly been the stars of an eventual movie adaptation. Instead, by the time the 2012 movie arrived, the days of muscle-bound leading men spitting salty one-liners had largely faded. Despite being kind of perfect for it, even Dwayne Johnson was rejected as Jack Reacher. Instead, Tom Cruise was cast, in a decision that remains controversial to this day. Still, the film was a success and brought more fans to the novels, which eventually led to Amazon's TV series starring Alan Ritchson. Reacher is now so popular it's led to a raft of similiar shows, like The Night Agent, that have tried to capture its blend of action and procedural thriller. Arnold Schwarzenegger might never have played Reacher, but about the closest he came was 2014's Sabotage. This violent David Ayer thriller cast Arnie as the head of a corrupt squad of DEA agents, who are being picked off one by one by mysterious assassins. Sabotage Is A Gory Whodunnit Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger Pitching Sabotage as Reacher meets Agatha Christie is a bold claim, but it's still accurate. Ayer has acknowledged Christie's influence on the story and its structure, though of course, it features significantly more gunfire and bloodshed. The film was actually an attempt by Schwarzenegger to change up his screen image and play a more complex, morally grey character. Sabotage paired Arnold Schwarzenegger with Sam Worthington, five years after Worthington fronted Terminator: Salvation, the only entry where Arnie did not make an acting appearance. He's backed up by a great cast too, including Olivia Williams, Sam Worthington, a scene-stealing Mireille Enos, and many more. With Sabotage, Ayer was leaning into a more 1970s type of thriller, the likes of which Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch) may have helmed. It makes no attempt to soften the edges of its cynical, corrupt task force, and the action is gory and hard-hitting when it arrives. Its procedural elements make it feel like a latter-day Reacher book too, where Arnie's "Breacher" teams with Olivia Williams' cop to investigate the killings; needless to say, there's a romantic subplot forms between them too. The movie is an odd tonal mix of whodunnit with macho action flick, and for those seeking a guilty pleasure B-movie with a real mean streak, Sabotage is currently streaming for free on YouTube and Plex. Sabotage Is A Loose Remake Of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None Ayer's originally conceived the movie as a slow-burn suspenser, punctuated by scenes of graphic violence. Sadly, test audiences were turned off by the end result, especially the original twist that Breacher himself was the killer. Ayer then had to re-cut his film into more of a straightforward actioner, and shot a new finale where other members of Breacher's team were revealed as the murderers. Beneath all the f-bombs and bloody headshots, the influence of And Then There Were None and Agatha Christine can still be found in Sabotage. Both involve a group of morally grey characters being killed one at a time by unknown parties, with their past sins catching up to them. The whodunnit element of Sabotage is still compelling, but it feels like ditching the original twist where Breacher was the killer robs the story of its real conclusion. 66 Novels · 14 Story Collections · Two Billion Copies Sold How Well Do You Know Agatha Christie? “The little grey cells, mon ami — they are everything.” 🕵PoirotLittle Grey Cells 🧶Miss MarpleThe Village Knows 🚆Orient ExpressTwelve Suspects ⚗PoisonHer Weapon of Choice 📖The Canon1920–1976 BEGIN THE INVESTIGATION → 01 Christie’s first published novel appeared in 1920 and introduced the world to Hercule Poirot. What was it called? AThe Mysterious Affair at Styles BThe Secret Adversary CThe Murder at the Vicarage DMurder on the Orient Express ✓ Correct! The Mysterious Affair at Styles — written on a wartime dare from her sister, and rejected by six publishers before it saw print. ✗ Not quite! It’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The Murder at the Vicarage came a decade later — and gave us Miss Marple. NEXT → 02 Poirot bristles every time someone assumes he is French. Which country is the retired police detective actually from? AFrance BSwitzerland CBelgium DLuxembourg ✓ Correct! Poirot is Belgian — a refugee of the First World War, which is exactly how he lands in England in Styles. ✗ Not quite! He is Belgian, and he will correct you at length if you suggest otherwise. NEXT → 03 Miss Jane Marple solves murders by comparing them to the petty scandals of her own tiny English village. Name it. AKingsmarkham BSt. Mary Mead CStyles St. Mary DMidsomer Norton ✓ Correct! St. Mary Mead — where, as Marple insists, human nature is much the same as it is anywhere else, only closer to hand. ✗ Not quite! It’s St. Mary Mead. Styles St. Mary is Poirot’s village, and Kingsmarkham belongs to Ruth Rendell. NEXT → 04 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) scandalised readers and nearly got Christie thrown out of the Detection Club. What was the twist? AThere was no murder at all BPoirot himself was the killer CThe victim faked his own death DThe narrator was the murderer ✓ Correct! Dr. Sheppard tells the whole story — and the whole story is a confession, hidden in what he leaves out. The narrator did it. ✗ Not quite! The narrator, Dr. Sheppard, is the murderer — critics called it cheating; it’s now considered one of the greatest twists ever written. NEXT → 05 In December 1926, Christie herself disappeared for 11 days, triggering a national manhunt. How did it end? AShe was found at a Harrogate hotel, checked in under a false name BShe was discovered aboard a train to Istanbul CShe returned home on her own and never left DShe was located at her mother’s house in Torquay ✓ Correct! She was recognised at a hotel in Harrogate, registered under an assumed surname. Christie never explained the episode — not once, not ever. ✗ Not quite! Her car was found abandoned, and 11 days later she turned up at a Harrogate hotel under a false name. She never publicly explained why. NEXT → 06 Which Christie novel is her best-selling book — and the best-selling crime novel of all time, at over 100 million copies? ADeath on the Nile BAnd Then There Were None CMurder on the Orient Express DThe A.B.C. Murders ✓ Correct! And Then There Were None — ten strangers on an island, no detective at all, and Christie’s own pick for the hardest book she ever wrote. ✗ Not quite! It’s And Then There Were None, the best-selling mystery novel ever published. NEXT → 07 Her play The Mousetrap opened in London in 1952. What distinction does it hold? AThe first play ever broadcast live on the BBC BThe most-adapted play in film history CThe longest-running stage production in the world DThe only play Christie wrote under a pen name ✓ Correct! It has run in the West End since 1952 — the longest-running stage production anywhere, and audiences are still asked to keep the ending secret. ✗ Not quite! The Mousetrap is the longest-running stage production in the world — over 70 years and counting. NEXT → 08 Christie wrote Poirot’s last case during the Blitz and locked it in a bank vault for 30 years. When Curtain was finally published in 1975, what followed? AIt was banned in Britain for a year BChristie publicly disowned the ending CHer publisher refused to print the last chapter DThe New York Times ran a front-page obituary for Poirot ✓ Correct! In August 1975 The New York Times gave Hercule Poirot a front-page obituary — the only fictional character ever to receive one. ✗ Not quite! The New York Times put Poirot’s obituary on its front page — an honour no other fictional character has ever been given. NAME THE MURDERER → The Drawing Room · Everyone Is Assembled Your Detective Rank 🔎 / 8 Order and method, mon ami — or merely a lucky guess? The grey cells will know the difference. ⤴ INVESTIGATE AGAIN The re-edit alsp cut back on the procedural elements, which is a pity, since the scenes between Arnie and Williams are the highlight. It sounds like Ayer isn't terribly proud of this 2014 film in hindsight, describing it to IndieWire as "journeyman work," but fans of his filmography - or deeply off-key Agatha Christie adaptations - should find plenty to enjoy. Sabotage proved to be a box-office dud upon release, and quietly ended Schwarzenegger's career as a leading man. His experiment to make darker, more mature action thrillers didn't pan out, but the film is still worthy of a curiosity viewing. Source: IndieWire Release Date March 28, 2014 Runtime 109 Minutes Director David Ayer Cast Karl Verloc - Her Husband Writers Skip Woods, David Ayer Producers Michael Balcon