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Samaritan

Samaritan

2022

Julius Avery

Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Sophia Tatum ...

5.0

5,918

Thriller. Action. Fantasy Sam Cleary (Javon "Wanna" Walton), a 13 -year -old, suspects that his mysterious and lonely neighbor, Mr. Smith (Sylvester Stallone), is actually a legendary superhero. 20 years ago, Samaritan was declared dead after a battle in a warehouse with his rival, Nemesis. People believe that Samaritan died in the fire, but some citizens like Sam hope that he is still alive. With the increasing crime and the city on the edge of chaos, Sam ... [+]

	Author	Review
Canada	Graeme Guttmann Screen Rant	"'Samaritan' commits a cardinal sin of the superhero genre: It thinks a high-profile actor with vaguely defined superpowers is enough to make the film interesting when it clearly needs something more (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"The best aspects of the movie drift into the background and we're left churning through an assemblage of action/superhero tropes that offers little that's new, original, or attention-grabbing (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"This is an entertaining B-movie bolstered by performances from a cast that often rises above the predictable material (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	Benjamin Lee The Guardian	"It’s a fresh spin that feels awfully stale (...) an immediately forgettable tale (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"[It] is basic enough (...) But the movie builds to a very good twist, and Stallone, in his way, brings a vibe to it"	NEU
United States	Kate Erbland IndieWire	"In the moment, it feels satisfying (...) but much like the rest of 'Samaritan', it doesn’t hold together under scrutiny"	NEG
United States	Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter	"Stallone provides just the right amount of world-weary gravitas and deadpan humor to put over the hokey material (...) It could be the beginning of a minor franchise for the veteran star"	POS
United Kingdom	John Nugent Empire	"The package as a whole feels slightly out of time, an attempt at riding the superhero wave without fully understanding what made that wave successful (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Brett Buckalew AV Club	"[It] finally comes roaring to life in its final half hour, with a simultaneously bonkers and fairly clever plot twist (...) that works overtime to compensate for the preceding hour and change’s meager lack of action"	NEU
United States	Brian Lowry CNN	"The action is fairly uninspired, with one of the key visual-effect shots looking downright and distractingly cheesy"	NEG
United States	Marco Vito Oddo Collider	"The movie doesn't stand out for its action scenes, has nothing new to say about the old good-versus-evil conflict at the center of any superhero story, and is incapable of giving its villains real purpose"	NEG
United States	William Bibbiani The Wrap	"Avery’s film is a solid piece of genre entertainment, grounded by excellent performances, and clever enough to find a new way to present the same old tropes"	POS
United States	Pat Brown Slant	"Stallone’s performance it’s only as one-note as the material, his stern tough-guy muttering and grimacing just about right for a screenplay that feels like it’s been plucked out of a dustbin (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"	NEG
United States	Soren Andersen Seattle Times	"Originality was on vacation when this picture was made (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	John Serba Decider	"This is a dried-out husk of a dead-fishbone of a screenplay, bereft of a single original idea or fresh riff on the genre. Every scene is a predictable trudge through an arc of bankrupt story tropes (...) Inspiration is low"	NEG
United States	M.N. Miller Ready Steady Cut	"A mildly enjoyable action film. In addition, Avery’s latest has immense promise, primarily if Amazon invests the time and money for a streaming franchise (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Valerie Complex Deadline	"This gritty story starts with promise, but the pacing comes to a screeching halt early on and never recovers. The cast is a solid mix of talented actors, but the script’s limitations restrict them (...) It is a colorless venture"	NEG
United States	Andy Crump Paste Magazine	"Even a failed attempt at making a superhero movie out of whole cloth rather than pre-existing IP is welcome, particularly one that challenges the genre's mores"	NEU
Canada	Mel Valentin Screen Anarchy	"Derivative, turgid, forgettable results"	NEG
United States	Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"More concerned with plot than meaning, Sylvester Stallone’s superhero film hinges on a predictable reveal, and not much else. A mechanical retread of better movies and ideas"	NEG
United States	Odie Henderson rogerebert.com	"I'm a damn fool for trying to follow this movie, because there are no characters to care about and no follow throughs on the world building it attempts (...) Rating: ★½ (out of 4)"	NEG
Canada	Brandon Zachary CBR	"Although the cast does their best to elevate the material, there's not much to this bare-bones superhero story to lift up. While it might not necessarily be bad, there's nothing to the film to make it remarkable"	NEU

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