Worth: $13.00
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Cast:
Sylvester Stallone, Pilou Asbæk, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Dascha Polanco, Sophia Tatum
Intro:
… flashes of inspiration in-between a lot of been-there-done-that …
Director Julius Avery seemed destined to end up here. After his last film Overlord, with its insatiable mixture of Golden Age Nazi-punching fervor and Dark Age grit and grime, sinking even further into comic book-inspired storytelling with a proper superhero yarn is the next logical step.
Avery and writer Bragi F. Schut approach the superhero genre in a similar fashion to Adam Egypt Mortimer’s Archenemy or Joost/Schulman’s Project Power, as a street-level urban crime drama spiced with super-mythic tones.
Specifically, it takes the form of a post-superhero story, set in Granite City 20 years after its resident hero and villain, Samaritan and Nemesis, supposedly died in their final battle. It focuses on the influence that their legendary history has had on the city, with young Sam (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) inspired by the heroism of Samaritan, and local crime boss Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk once again having all the fun as the bad guy) using Nemesis’ image to inspire fiery revolution in the abandoned populace.
As far as anti-hero stories go, it asks familiar questions about the typical black-and-white understanding of superheroics, and how that is reflected in a world comprised solely of shades of grey. When you’re scrounging just to keep your belly full, who are you more likely to see as the hero: the guy trying to stop you from surviving the only way you know how, or the guy who understands that sometimes unsavoury things must be done in order to eat?
As shouldered by Stallone as Joe Smith, a suspiciously-strong garbage man, it highlights how a personal conflict between two brothers who just didn’t see eye-to-eye could blossom into such widespread social anarchy. Myths tend to get distorted the further they spread.
That is, when the story actually gets around to spilling the beans on the mystery at hand. It can get frustrating how much the film dances around the motivations for Joe’s actions and reclusiveness, to the point where the eventual revelation only ends up creating more questions than answers.
Stallone does well with what he’s given, still sporting that grizzled Spartan demeanour, but it feels like the film keeps holding him back.
Which is a shame because, when Avery fully embraces the action, it’s quite enjoyable. DOP David Ungaro brings life to the setting, while J. J. Perry and Justin Yu’s stunt work combine hard-body hits with high-flying wire work to really make the fight scenes pop. At its peak, it reaches the same level of anarchic bliss as Overlord.
But unfortunately, Samaritan isn’t able to maintain this, with flashes of inspiration in-between a lot of been-there-done-that. Its finale is strong enough to forgive most of its preceding lulls, and the performances are great, but it lacks the refinement that could have made it a genuinely great film.
