Movie Review: Mediocre 'Samaritan' Inspires Indifference

Samaritan (2022)

Directed by Julius Avery

Written by Bragi F. Schut

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton

Release Date August 26th, 2022

30 minutes into the new Sylvester Stallone action movie, Samaritan the titular superhero has yet to appear. Instead, we’ve spent 30 minutes watching a child character named Sam, played by Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, attempt to determine what we already know: Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Joe Smith’ is secretly the Superhero known as Samaritan. To this point the movie has established plenty about Joe while showing a city in the depth of economic despair and Sam and his mother as struggling so badly that mom has to borrow her son’s lunch money to get to work. Never mind that the kid is wearing a pair of classic red and white Air Jordan shoes.

At the 30 minute mark we know that the bad guy in the movie, Cyrus (Pilou Asbaeck) has acquired the only weapon in the world that could kill Samaritan, a hammer forged by Samaritan’s late twin brother, Nemesis. And we can assume, since Sam’s investigation is still going at the 30 minute mark that we are still not very close to Samaritan actually arriving in the movie. Convention dictates that Sam gets caught snooping around by ‘Joe.’ Sam explains that he knows who Joe really is and that Joe first denies his identity, followed by a scene where he’s forced to reveal himself, and then he must reluctantly enter the fray against Edwin and his gang, likely to rescue Sam.

As I sit paused on my Amazon Prime viewing of Samaritan at 30 minutes and 47 seconds I am wondering if it is worth my time to keep watching. Thus far, the movie is not special. Stallone has been on screen very little, the kid is fine but far from special and the exceptionally slow way in which director Julius Avery and screenwriter Bragi F. Schut are dragging out these inevitable bits of superhero movie convention are extraordinarily boring. My only reason for continuing to review the movie at this point is professional obligation. I can only hope that perhaps I am wrong and somehow Samaritan will begin to break with what I have predicted.

Traumatic memory nightmare cliche. Dammit, Samaritan is turning me into Cinema Sins. Not cool movie! Stallone’s Samaritan killed his twin brother Nemesis in a fight 20 some years ago. The two fought on top of an electric company building and their massive fight caused a major explosion that scarred and injured Samaritan and killed Nemesis. Because this is a movie, Samaritan has vivid traumatic memory dreams that exist solely for us to see what happened between Samaritan and his brother and foreshadow what will happen between Samaritan and Cyrus in the third act.

A twist! And not a bad one really. I still predicted it but the movie tried. I have to admit the attempt was strong. And, I must admit the final action scene involving Stallone battling a horde of gun toting baddies is kind of fun. The third act is the first time we actually see Stallone showing some life and energy and I did appreciate that. Stallone still has a presence, charisma, and intensity that I genuinely enjoy. Does that make Samaritan a good enough movie to recommend? I guess kind of. If you’re a Stallone fan, you might enjoy the movie.

Samaritan isn’t much to look at. The color palette is dreary, gray and wet. The universe is well realized but not particularly welcoming for an audience. The construction isn’t bad, there is a strong craftsmanship to the dreary, gray and wet exteriors. Director Julius Avery shows a rather strong hand in the action scenes, aided greatly by our long held connection with Stallone the action hero. For most audiences, that action and Stallone will be enough to say Samaritan is worth watching.

For me, I prefer my movies a little more pleasant, a little less familiar and with a little more pace. I can settle on Samaritan mostly as a mediocre but not completely unappealing movie. That’s about as much praise as I can offer. Get past that first 30 minutes and you may find yourself willing to stick around for what is left of Samaritan. If you are impatient or you simply spend too much time picking apart movies, like me, you probably aren’t missing out if you skip Samaritan.

Samaritan debuted on Amazon Prime, free to Prime subscribers on August 26th, 2022. Find my archive of more than 20 years and nearly 2000 movie reviews online at SeanattheMovies.blogspot.com. Follow me on Twitter at PodcastSean or follow the archive blog at SeanattheMovies. You can also hear me talking about movies on the Everyone’s a Critic Movie review Podcast.