Samaritan Proves That Some Superheroes Should Remain Retired: Review

The post Samaritan Proves That Some Superheroes Should Remain Retired: Review appeared first on Consequence.

The Pitch: You’ve heard of Superman. You’ve heard of the Punisher. You’ve even heard of Hancock, but you likely have never heard of Samaritan. However, Overlord director Julius Avery wants you to know his name. Adapted from the Mythos Comics series of the same name, this film centers around a young boy named Sam (Javon Walton) with a love for the titular long-thought-dead superhero named Samaritan.

Sam has a hunch that the revered hero is still alive, but can’t really prove it as more than a fan theory. The legend goes that Samaritan went to battle with his equally strong yet villainous brother Nemesis over twenty-five years ago, both of them dying in the chaos. Without any real evidence that he’s right about Samaritan still being alive, Sam spends his time doodling, finding scrap metal to sell, and avoiding local gangs that goad him into being their front for robberies.

It turns out that not only is Sam right about Samaritan, but he’s Sam’s neighbor, a garbage man named Joe Smith (Sylvester Stallone), who isn’t exactly happy that his past is now creeping back to him. For, although Nemesis is gone, his legacy still remains, as a gang leader named Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk) looks to continue the anarchy that Samaritan’s brother seemingly died to start.

I’m a Troglodyte: Nobody in Samaritan gives an Oscar-winning performance, especially with lines like “street fighting is for fools” for dialogue. That isn’t to say that the majority of the cast doesn’t try. While a bit stilted in his delivery at times, Walton continues being the same energetic presence that he’s established himself to be on Euphoria and The Umbrella Academy. Asbæk also isn’t afraid to chew the scenery around him, although this campy performance does waver towards the end of the film.

Unfortunately, Stallone is what bogs the rest of the cast down, and he bogs them down hard. While he’s known for his unique delivery style, most of his lines in this movie can’t be clearly understood due to how slurred he makes them. Every time he tries to say something that is meant to sound cool and badass, he delivers it like he’d rather be anywhere else but shooting that scene. He seemingly makes no real attempt at acting throughout Samaritan, which is a damn shame considering how we know that he can deliver a great performance — when he tries.

Samaritan (Prime Video)

Good and Bad Lives in Everybody’s Heart: As a whole, the writing of Samaritan is woefully boring, hitting all the notes of a typical anti-hero story. If you’ve seen any movie involving a reluctant superhero, you’ve likely seen a better version of the story that Samaritan is trying to convey: The “show, don’t tell” mantra is completely ignored through the film, with its messages being directly told to the audience numerous times while never displaying them through any other means.

It feels like the movie doesn’t trust its audience enough to understand what it’s trying to get at, that people can’t be purely good or evil. While the movie is too boring to justify getting insulted by this, one would think that a movie that deals with these moral questions should expect that its audience can grasp these concepts.

Despite this, there is a third-act twist that is actually pretty interesting in concept, as it not only reinforces the idea that nobody is purely good or evil, but has the potential to showcase a nuanced look at what superheroism actually is. Unfortunately, the terrible writing and execution of this twist make it more corny than intriguing. What makes it worse is that this third act is accompanied by some subpar visual effects that look like they were cutting edge back in 2007.

The Verdict: The problem with Samaritan is that it’s just boring. There is nothing that really makes it stand out from any other post-modern superhero movie being released in the wake of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s success. Plus, there are some laughably bad moments, particularly thanks to Stallone’s terrible performance.

Other than those instances of cringey dialogue and a lack of clear direction, the movie just feels like nothing except a movie churned out to capitalize on the rise of edgy superhero fare. Samaritan doesn’t have anything of substance to say as it ignores the interesting morality tale it sets up to focus on a slap-dashed story whose only reason for existing is to feature Stallone throwing people around.

The potential of this project as an insightful and thrilling look at superheroes was massive, which makes the fact that it’s just so boring and poorly put together that much worse. If you’re looking for superhero media that challenges what it means to be a superhero, just watch The Boys again. It’s on the same streaming service, anyways.

Where to Watch: Samaritan will be available to stream on Prime Video on August 26th.

Trailer: 

Samaritan Proves That Some Superheroes Should Remain Retired: Review
Erin Brady

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