Sylvester Stallone Proves His Star Power in Amazon Prime’s Modestly Entertaining Superhero Film “Samaritan” [REVIEW]

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE YET TO SEE SAMARITAN, THIS IS A NON-SPOILER REVIEW.

The new film Samaritan shares very similar DNA to Rocky Balboa and Creed, except with superheroes in the mix.  So, it’s pretty fitting that Sylvester Stallone is headlining this Amazon Prime flick.  It also has nearly the same plot as another direct-to-streaming movie called Archenemy which came out just two years ago.  Luckily, Samaritan is a far stronger starring-vehicle for Stallone, than Archenemy was for Joe Manganiello.  With so many easy comparisons, however, this is definitely not anything you haven’t seen before.

WHAT IS SAMARITAN ALL ABOUT?

Samaritan follows a young boy who is beginning to get into a life of petty crime. In a moment of danger, he learns that a superhero, who was thought to have gone missing after an epic battle twenty years ago… May in fact still be alive and kicking.

DOES SLY STALLONE SHOW ANY SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN?

The best thing about Samaritan is… you guessed it!  Sylvester Stallone.  The 76-year-old actor shows absolutely no signs of slowing down in a role that was tailor-made for him to play.  Although there are times you can tell he is phoning it in, as he is playing pretty much the same character he plays in all of his films, that never takes away from Sly’s sheer star power.  With his grizzled exterior and cynical wit, Joe Smith also has a heart of gold.  Plus, Stallone tears through the screen with brutal force, nailing all of the action scenes as only the veteran actor can.  If there’s anything I’d like to see from The Italian Stallion in the future though, is to see him play a different kind of role that pushes his acting ability just a bit more.  

HOW IS JAVON WALTON AS THE CO-LEAD?

I was also extremely impressed with Javon Walton as our co-lead.  While the young actor has shined in supporting roles as Ashtray in Euphoria and also The Umbrella Academy… He shows that he can is perfectly capable of headlining a feature here.  Just like Stallone, Walton effortlessly exudes charisma and he doesn’t have to do much to come off as incredibly likable. 

His character Sam has a really good story arc in Samaritan, as he is coming of age and at a crossroads in his life.  He can either choose to go down a path of petty crime to get him and his mother ahead.  Or he can decide to go down the more difficult road, which is the way of choosing to do what is right.  The young actor shows real authentic growth as the movie progresses.  And the fact that I even remember his presence in this film, with him starring alongside a living legend with superhuman abilities, is proof of how great Walton is here.

DOES THE FILM OFFER ANY SURPRISES?

While Samaritan is blatantly unoriginal, I was pleasantly taken aback that there were some nice surprises in the screenplay.  Just when I was starting to tune out a bit, as the endless barrage of gunfire and fist-fighting became numbing, a twist would happen that would garner back my interest.  The production quality is also better than expected, something that really brought down Archenemy for me.  Though it might not be on the level you expect from something you pay to see on the big screen… (Honestly, I was anticipating it to look like one of Stallone’s past Straight-to-DVD hot messes), you can tell the thought and care that was put into the making of this film.  

WOULD THIS HAVE WORKED BETTER WITH AN R-RATING?

If I have any issues with Samaritan, besides it feeling pretty conventional… is that I think it would have been better suited with a hard-R rating.  As is, it’s far too violent for most of the kids who tune in to Marvel movies. Yet it feels a little too restrained for its target audience of Rambo and Expendables fans.  It would have been nice to see our director Julius Avery, who previously helmed the ultra-violent Overlord, bring some of his experience with grit, grime, and guts to this picture.  It definitely would have made it stand out from the crowd a bit more.

Samaritan certainly isn’t going to win any awards.  And it doesn’t strive to be anything other than a mindless and diverting superhero flick.  But, we have hit the end-of-summer dumping ground of late August, and in that context, this movie is way better than I could have imagined.

Samaritan will be Streaming on Amazon Prime August 26th, 2022.

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