Review: Julius Avery's Action Movie 'Samaritan' Wastes Its Potential
Manuel Sao Bento August 25, 2022
Overlord came out a few years ago and it was one of the best surprises I've seen on the big screen. With little expectation, Julius Avery blew me away with his second film, and when I heard that the director was taking a dark path to the superhero genre, I was immediately interested in the project. Despite understanding the causes of the "superhero fatigue" rhetoric, the truth is that this so-called fatigue is only mentioned when movies fail. As this is a literary genre I really enjoy, I will always invest in what the directors and writers have to offer. However, Samaritan has a premise full of possibilities, but does not develop their exciting ideas satisfactorily.
This is writer Braga F. Shute's first screenplay, which may be the main reason Samaritan dropped a more interesting and emotionally engaging narrative and replaced it with a more general and predictable story about the boy Sam (Javon Walton). She's a fan of meeting the famous superhero Joe Smith (Sylvester Stallone). He was missing for several decades after a fight with his brother Nemesis. In case anyone has unreasonable expectations of this superhero movie, Walton plays the real hero. Stallone still gets a good chunk of screen, of course, but the story mostly revolves around Sam, the bullying he often suffers from, and the criminal path he takes to help his single mother pay the bills.
There is nothing new or innovative here. "Samaritan" supposedly touches on the good versus evil theme - it keeps repeating itself - so there are no surprises. Avery tries to make his film gruesome, unpredictable, and theory-packed, but everything feels so familiar that even inexperienced viewers won't be surprised by something that's easy to decipher after the first few minutes. There's nothing wrong with using famous phrases and clichés in movies as long as it's entertaining for the audience. Unfortunately, this important point is surrounded by two problems...
Although Samaritan is really different from all the usual films of this genre, it is still a superhero film. Of course, that doesn't mean the movie *must* contain action scenes - The Joker is a good example of a superhero movie that doesn't focus on actual combat - but it does need something that offers such entertainment value. The problem is that not only is the work disappointing, it has nothing to replace or add. The fight scenes are decent at best, but it's generally just the usual repetitive action like throws and punches. However, the work is really impressive. The acrobats are thrown left and right over every imaginable obstacle.
The main problem, however, is that a story, which is best condensed to fit into a visually stylized introduction, raises many thought-provoking questions that either go unexplored or are overly simple and cheap answers. The Samaritan has a compelling premise but refuses to delve deep into the story of his world, ultimately undermining the symbolic relationship between the Samaritan and Nemesis - Stallone spends the entire film saying, "I don't want to talk about him," every time “. Answers. He asks about his past. In addition, the action-packed third chapter features a fairly prominent green screen and poor graphics in other elements.
I would like to end this review on a positive note. Composers Jed Kurzel and Kevin Kiner, Soundtrack and Leads - Redemption. Stallone does his best to inject a lot of humor into a somewhat cheesy film. Considering Walton was 14-15 when he starred in Samaritan, the young actor did an excellent job, although I don't think his character was ever the main character in this film, which is when the premise is most interesting. Path. Pilou Asbek plays the antagonist convincingly and brutally, with well-deserved weirdness. Certainly, with a more polished script, Avery could have made a much better film.
last thoughts
Julius Avery's Samaritan has an interesting premise, but unfortunately it's another addition to the list of films with wasted potential. What could have been a really dark and compelling story about two super brothers with different views on life instead turned out to be a monotonous, predictable and formulaic tale with less Sylvester Stallone than expected. The cast gives a solid performance, but the decision to focus on Javon Walton's public persona while the intro gives way to such an amazing exploration of the past turns out to be awful. When it comes to action, he lacks the energy and creativity to entertain most viewers, despite having a stunt job dedicated to him. Overall a somewhat disappointing experience.
Note from Manuel: C-Follow Manuel on Twitter -msbreviews / Or Letterboxd -msbreviews
Find more articles: review, live broadcast
