Language : English
Release date: 26 August 2022
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton, Mois Aries
Directed by: Julius Avery
Produced by: Sylvester Stallone, Braden Aftergood
Music by: Jed kurzel, Kevin kiner
Cinematography :Davind Ungaro
Edited by : Matt Evans, Pete Beaudreau
Samaritan is a American superhero film directed by Julius Avery, written by Bragi F. Schut, and starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role, Javon Walton, Pilou Asbaek, Dascha Polanco, and Moises Arias. It is a co-production of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Balboa Productions.
What works
There are a few scenes in which the spark-like Samaritan is run over, but the majority of the others are drag. In many of them, the background score has a greater impact than what’s happening in the foreground. Sylvester Stallone‘s smoking eyes and deep set eyes can still do the talking. Even when the writing is mediocre, the actor has a great screen presence and can deliver the punches. Samaritan certainly doesn’t add anything to the already crowded roster of superheroes. But, at the age of 76, Sylvester Stallone demonstrates that you’re never too old to play a superhero.
Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton is a refreshingly cute young man who isn’t one of those annoying kids who won’t let go. He captures both Sam’s desire for his superhero and his character’s ground reality perfectly. Pilou Asbaek‘s villainy could not be more stereotypical, as his character Cyrus goes about creating a mindless and unnecessary commotion in the city that is perpetually in doomsday mode.
This superhero movie has a relatively short runtime of just under 1 hour and 40 minutes, but thatβs including the end credits. This runtime works really well for the story.
What not works
In this day and age of overabundance of superheroes, an original story that attempts to spin the same old tropes to tell a new story should be welcomed. Unfortunately, Samaritan is mired in a saturated market with nothing new to say. It tries to introduce new levels of gritty grounded storytelling to the genre, but its lack of imagination and fun puts it in worse shape than its protagonist. It starts off strong and interesting, and hoping for some real backstory about the two brothers to propel the plot forward. Instead, it’s a film about an annoying kid who is still the same kid at the beginning and end of the film (no transformation takes place).
You can see the twist coming from a mile away because it takes too long before the reveal, It might have been surprising if it had happened sooner. There is definitely a 1990s feel to this movie, but that has more to do with the core story than the production.
The film is packed with annoying logical flaws, character motivations rarely make any sense, and emotional lines rarely land in the way they’re intended. Furthermore, the editing is inexplicably bad. It’s consistently jarring in a way that major studio films don’t seem to be.
Bottomline
A super hero movie, that is out of time!!!
