Elon Musk really wants you to watch Citizen Vigilante, the new controversial film starring Armie Hammer and centered around illegal migrant-related crime.

Citizen Vigilante dropped in select theaters and on digital platforms on June 19 and it quickly caused controversy. The movie follows an American (played by Hammer) who is living in Europe and targeting both illegal immigrants committing violent crimes as well as government officials handing out light sentences.

Musk has been in full-on promotion mode with the flick. He posted the entire film to his X account, offering it free to users for a 48-hour period this week. He’s also teased a sequel while celebrating the movie’s success on digital platforms.

While posted to Musk’s X account, Citizen Vigilante received more than 15 million views.

Hammer adds another level of intrigue and controversy to the picture, as the actor saw his career implode in 2021 when he faced abuse and misconduct accusations. Messages were also released revealing cannibalistic fantasies. Hammer denied any criminal wrongdoing and he’s managed to get acting roles again in the last couple of years.

According to writer/director Uwe Boll (more on him in a moment), Citizen Vigilante was essentially banned in Germany after the country’s film certification board refused to offer the movie an age rating, which effectively bars a film from promotion and theater play.

“I think they did that on purpose. It was a deliberate censorship decision. I hired a lawyer to complain about it, but we lost in a six-two vote as I was told that the film was inciting violence against migrants,” Boll told The Telegraph.

The filmmaker said the film itself was inspired by a 2016 case in Hamburg, in which a 14-year-old girl was raped by a group of teenagers. The teenagers received suspended sentences.

Boll is mostly known for his low-budget video game adaptations over the decades, including House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, and Bloodrayne,  and has been branded by many critics as the world’s “worst director.”

In 2006, Boll, a former amateur boxer, set up a fight with multiple vocal critics of his movies.

He fought them all — and won, filming the stunt and turning it into the movie Raging Boll. At the time, Boll had been lashing out at critics over a petition demanding he stop making movies. Boll stated at the time that if the petition reached one million signatures, he’d retire from filmmaking. It ultimately reached around 300,000.

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