SAMARITAN (2022)
Tagline: 25 years ago, the world's greatest hero vanished.
(Action, Drama, Stallone Will Kick Your Teeth In) [PG-13]
Not as strong as I once was, things start to fall apart when you stop caring, and I stopped caring a long time ago.
I am not going to come out here swinging to tell you that Sylvester Stallone isn’t making a few bad movies here and there. Even the biggest stars are, but it does seem like Stallone has a more calculated approach now that he’s getting a bit long in the tooth. He isn’t just throwing darts at a dart board loaded with acting offers and taking whatever. Both CREED and CREED II were strong outings for him and taking a voice role for THE SUICIDE SQUAD definitely wasn’t the worst idea. So when I saw the previews for SAMARITAN, I pretty much automatically thought it had potential.
What we get in this one is a flashback to when Samaritan and his brother Nemesis pretty much ruled the superhero world, only Nemesis hated mankind and both brothers allegedly ended up dead after a massive explosion. We fast forward to the present day 25 years later and a young boy obsessed with Samaritan believes his reclusive neighbor might actually be Samaritan. Meanwhile, a gang leader named Cyrus seeks a magic hammer that Nemesis made to kill his brother years earlier.
When you read that summary, you can pick out things that are definitely taken from other superhero stories and even movies like BREAKABLE, but this one is given a cool storyline where the focus is less on big action sequences taking the focus more on Samaritan and the boy Sam Cleary. That relationship brings some real depth to this story which might have otherwise felt flat.
This is not to say that we don’t get a pretty cool final act with an interesting twist. Acting-wise, at least in this movie, I wasn’t blown away by Javon 'Wanna' Walton as Sam. I just kind of feel a lot of other young actors could have pulled this off. Dascha Polanco was good as Sam’s mom. She kind of struck me as a bit of an 80’s mom, where you have to work, but no one is really watching your kids. They are pretty much watching themselves. Just that aspect alone was one of the elements that gave this movie a bit of an 80s “feel” overall. There is a subtle Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime reminder in here as well. You’ll have to listen for it, but it’s heard at the beginning of one of the best songs on that album. I mentioned voice work for Stallone earlier. Polanco has also done some as well recently doing the voice for Green Lantern in DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS. Pilou Asbæk was solid as the movie's antagonist. I think they were going for a LOST BOYS “David” look and attitude for him and he pulled it off. He is probably best known for BEN HUR.
Regarding the score and sets, this feels pretty low budget, but that all works in this situation. They did a good job with the overall fight scene effects. The pacing for the first half is slow, but I think it had a lot of purpose, so it actually adds to the film rather than bogging it down. One of Stallone’s mottos is “keep punching” and he definitely follows his own advice at 76 years old (as of 2022) and still going strong.
For me, this was a really well-done movie, but because we have seen a lot of this before, I can only give it a 5 out of 7. That being said, it is one of the better movies of 2022.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER (MGM) AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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