Samaritan movie review: A tired and predictable superhero film

Julius Avery’s follow-up to Overlord, Samaritan, is another tired superhero film that attempts to jumpstart a cinematic universe that will never happen. Initially slated to release theatrically, the movie was moved to Amazon Prime Video after the company acquired MGM in a historic deal earlier this year. Some of it works fine, but most of it is a relatively uneventful bore that only serves to set up the world of Granite City for its filmmakers to expand on in “potential sequels.”

Sylvester Stallone leads the movie as Joe Smith, a garbage collector living a reclusive life. Living across from him is a thirteen-year-old boy named Sam Cleary (Javon “Wanna” Walton), obsessed with a mythic superhero named the Samaritan. The hero allegedly died in a fire alongside his twin brother, Nemesis, but Sam believes he is still alive and is looking to find out where he is.

Sam makes money by working with Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), a gang leader who strives to become the next Nemesis and finish what the villain attempted to start before he died. During an altercation with some of Cyrus’ gang members, Sam gets saved by Joe, who showcases superhuman strength and resistance to bullets and knives. This leads Sam to believe that Joe is the Samaritan and that he must suit up one last time to protect Granite City against Nemesis II, who seeks to plunge the city into total blackout.

Samaritan had the opportunity to do something spectacular, but fails

The film re-treads story elements we’ve already seen before in better superhero movies. Little story creativity feeds Samaritan, making it a pretty underwhelming superhero movie. The villain is as dull as most superhero movie villains are, the literal opposite version of the hero, without any distinguishing characteristic that sets him apart from Samaritan. Stallone plays both Samaritan and Nemesis in flashback sequences, which are supposed to give us any form of insight into the character.

However, we see two superhero suits fighting because they have different viewpoints, but those are never explored in flashbacks or present-day moments. We see Nemesis and Samaritan fighting because one is a hero and the other is a villain. The same happens when Cyrus takes over the mantle of Nemesis–he looks up to him more than Samaritan, yet the movie never takes time to explain why he thinks Nemesis is the hero and not Samaritan. Because of this, character motivations are paper-thin, which makes the overall movie a chore to watch more than anything else.

It becomes duller when the film takes way too long to get going. It tries to establish a camaraderie between Sam and Joe, which is admirably done but forgoes any other instance of character development. There are a few cool bits of superheroism, especially when Joe explains to Sam how he has to “cool off” his powers, so his heart doesn’t explode. Still, most of these incredible moments are quickly glossed over in favor of poor pacing and non-existent character development as Sam and Joe start to form a quasi-bond through repetitive situations.

And even amidst all of these flaws, Sylvester Stallone still manages to give a genuine and heartfelt performance. He’s channeling his inner Rocky Balboa during bonding scenes with Sam, which provides the movie with a much-needed emotional core, and he shares great chemistry with Walton throughout the film. Asbæk is also quite chilling as the villain. Whenever he plays an antagonist, watch out. He’s always been riveting to watch and delivers another outstanding performance here. It’s a shame that the material he’s given from screenwriter Bragi F. Schut lacks any depth.

It’s also a shame that none of the action scenes are any good–there are instances of kinetics throughout, but they’re bogged down by rough editing and poor stunt-work. It also doesn’t help that the CGI feels unfinished, especially during its end, where the movie’s relatively low budget starts to stick out like a sore thumb. I won’t get into any details here, but it’s as bad as one of Stallone’s direct-to-DVD Escape Plan sequels, which may have been part of why Amazon decided to release the MGM film on Prime Video ultimately.

A twist that occurs near the movie’s end could’ve worked, even if it was predictable. Still, the film doesn’t spend that much time on it and prefers to gloat over what could’ve radically shifted its story in a completely different direction. Every time Samaritan has the opportunity to do something truly spectacular, it immediately squanders it for something more facile and formulaic. It could’ve been an exciting film questioning society’s need for heroic figures even at its darkest times. Instead, it is another run-of-the-mill and tired superhero action picture, even if Stallone and Asbæk do their best to stay afloat. A damn shame.

Samaritan is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.