SAMARITAN is a new Prime Video movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton with Pilou Asbæk in the third key role. Sylvester Stallone plays a man, who Sam (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) believes is the greatest superhero that ever lived: “Samaritan”.
However, as far as anyone knows, both Samaritan and his twin-brother “Nemesis” died when they fought each other 25 years earlier. Or did Samaritan survive? Well, Sam certainly believes he did.
This Prime Video addition is a very dark superhero movie, which is hardly anything new. We’ve seen this in many Batman movies over the past years already. Hell, even a movie like Hancock took a similar approach – while also using comedy, I know, which this one does not.
Instead, Samaritan is equal parts drama, action, thriller, and fantasy. Everything you need in a good superhero versus supervillain story. Okay, I do like it when comedy is part of it as well, but that isn’t really for Samaritan. Nor is it for the Batman movies anymore. And it works this way as well.
Sylvester Stallone does a really good job portraying the very average Joe Smith, who just might be a superhero in hiding. Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones, Overlord) plays the local gang leader who takes in those, who have no one else. Well, in that classic gang/mob way, so it isn’t all “sweet and innocent”, of course.
Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton is as charming (and cheeky) as ever as the young Sam Cleary who wants to believe in fairness and equality. Also, it’s clear that this movie was shot a while back since he looks very young. Much younger than he just did in The Umbrella Academy.
There is definitely a 1990s feel to this movie, but that has more to do with the core story than the production. The production is very modern and I especially enjoyed that the distinction between good and evil isn’t as simple as most people want it to be.
Something franchises such as X-Men and Avengers have also dealt with a lot.
One man’s hero is another man’s supervillain. It’s all about perspective and Samaritan takes a good and healthy look at this. Yes, also while adding some social commentary. But hey, if you don’t like to “think about real life” when you watch movies, then you can easily ignore it.
You shouldn’t really since the points are valid and important. But you can!
Watch Samaritan on Prime Video!
Julius Avery is the director of Samaritan and if you’ve watched the awesome World War II zombie movie Overlord (2018), then you’ll be familiar with his style. That movie also had Pilou Asbæk in a key role and they clearly work very well together.
The screenplay was written by Bragi F. Schut. He also co-wrote the screenplay for Escape Room (2019) with Maria Melnik, and the twists and turns of both those screenplays are definitely a common denominator.
In terms of visuals, I do have one minor issue: During flashbacks, we see a younger Sylvester Stallone and it looks straight out of a computer game. And not the very best ones either. There should be enough footage to do better. If not, something animated (like in the opening of the film) would have been better.
This superhero movie has a relatively short runtime of just under 1 hour and 40 minutes, but that’s including the end credits. This runtime works really well for the story, so it really is perfect for a Friday night. Just sit back and enjoy it.
Samaritan is out on Prime Video from August 26, 2022.
