No Good Deed

Sure, I might have seen films with comparable story lines, we all probably have, but it still has it's own originality and a great performance absolutely nailed by Idris Elba.

All that Hollywood does is steal and rip off. Even (especially) our favourite wonder child Taranatino does it all the time. It's the way this is done that can make a film stand out. This, combined with plenty of atmosphere and solid performances all round make an entertaining and sometimes pretty tense watch.

I liked it, but must admit I'm a big fan of Elba's work so I am slightly biased. Just for his performance alone this is well worth a watch 7/10

The story portrayed in this film is pretty much spelled out in the trailer. Crazy escaped convict terrorizes a woman and her kids. That's pretty much it, but there is a nasty little twist in the story that I did not see coming (although I did have a feeling). You know…. When you ask yourself "surely it isn't this" and come to find out …. Oh yes, it is. I have to give Colin (Indris Elba) a lot of credit for playing it super cool to make his way into the house. Although you knew he was the "bad" guy who is eventually going to snap, you kind of find yourself liking him for a little while (with his fine self). Terri (Taraji P. Henson) was a relatively smart women who made some serious errors at the beginning of the film, but had I not known in advance what was going to happen, I probably would not have thought that she did anything wrong. She was just trying to be nice and do the right thing. Meg (Leslie Bibb) is Terri's best friend and she drove home the point that no one knows you better than your best friend. At first I thought that she was going to be a little ditzy, but she proved me wrong. Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) is Terri's husband who does not seemed to be vested in the relationship. This is very apparent right from the beginning. I went to the 2nd showing on the day the film was released and I have to say that the theater was pretty well populated. The one thing that I have to say about seeing a film with a diverse crowd is that folks talk (out loud) to the people on the screen (myself included). Toward the end of the film I heard myself saying "how does she think that's going to work" and then immediately after that I said "why does he think that worked"…... you'll see what I mean when you go to see it. Other than that, there are three reasons why I liked this film…., the great lead characters, the consistent flow of the film and finally the whole story was told in around 90 minutes. This is director Sam Miller's first attempt at a widely distributed feature film and I think that he did a pretty good job. I would recommend it to a friend.

Idris Elba. Arguably one of the coolest actors around right now. He can pretty much carry any part given to him. Yes, I'm a fan. And, as I expected of him, he's damn good here too. Unfortunately, one great actor does not make up for a film which is short on originality.

Elba plays 'Colin.' A psychopath. Okay, so that's a generalisation. The early part of the film touches on his exact condition. However, he kills people, so 'psychopath' will work for me. And, he plays it pretty well, flitting between his natural charm and dangerous ability to bludgeon someone to death if he so feels inclined.

But, luckily for Joe Public, he's been caught and imprisoned. Of course the film would be a lot less dull if he didn't escape pretty quickly and resume his terrorising. So, he does this and seeks refuge in a woman's home, pretending that his car has broken down. Of course she succumbs to his charm and lets him in, but, again, things never stay that way for long. What follows is a typical 'cat and mouse' kind of game with her doing her best to survive in her own home. I should just point out that she can't just escape at the earliest opportunity, as she has children.

I have no problem with the plot. Yes, it could probably be a little more original, but I could still live with that. Or I could if it wasn't for the fact that it uses the same cliché over and over again (normally found in 'slasher' films). Three times (yes, I counted) in the space of about ten minutes does she totally get the drop on Elba and whack him with a fire extinguisher/lamp-thing/knife, only to run off instead of finishing him off. I know this kind of movie-gripe has been going on for years and, yes, I know if she killed him at the earliest opportunity it would be a pretty short film, but still... that lack of realism/originality just got to me after a while. Elba isn't supposed to be a monster or superhuman, yet he gets up from every blow and just chases after her – again, without killing her either due to ending the film early.

Ultimately, you can't fault the performances, both Elba and his victim do all they can with what's been given to them. It's just a shame the 'vehicle' they're in is a little bit on the stale side. I guess if you're not into slasher films you may not notice it quite so much, but, for me, it just bugged me to the point where I found it hard to carry on watching.

For die-hard Elba fans or casual viewers of the 'stalker/thriller' genre only.

Even after having watched the trailer you'll be in for lots of surprises. There were a few things I didn't see coming, subtle twists and turns which caught me off guard. Idris and Taraji have great chemistry on screen, you want to watch them and you don't get bored watching them.

I love to see films with black people in them, which have nothing to do with race or where race isn't even mentioned once. You literally could have placed any one from any ethnic background in any of those characters and it would have worked.

This movie re-enforced to me that Taraji and Idris are really good actors, I got my money's worth. I went to see the movie at the Grove where there are lots of tourists and people from all over the country, who have normal reactions to what they see on the screen. The audience as a whole cared a lot about Taraji's character, they cheered for her when she was winning and they had natural human responses that were real, and so at the end of the day, that says to me all the people involved in making this movie did their job. Seeing the film there got me avoiding the jaded Hollywood movie "experts" on cinema with their snobby intellectual bully b.s, I was with regular people at a movie theater, the reason actors make movies to begin with, the people who are funding our industry with their hard earned dollars, not movie critics who go the movies for intellectual stimulation instead of reading a freaking book. You're gonna like Taraji's bff, she has a great moment with Idris that has everyone who has a best friend going "YOU TELL IT."

I personally love to go see a movie and turn off my brain and enjoy myself and you get to do this with this movie, it kept my attention from beginning to end. Go see it, worth your money!

I read a lot of reviews before watching, and truly was surprised as this movie was MUCH better than the detractors let on. The acting is great, the storyline, though part of a formulaic genre, is well thought out and moves at a great pace, the dynamic of action/release/suspense/reveal is well timed, and unless you're unbelievably difficult to entertain, you'll not want to be interrupted during any part of this film. Are there plot holes? We debated this and decided it's truly up to your point of view, but the events are actually all completely plausible. Summarily, unless you go into movies for the sole intent of picking them apart and finding things to not like, I guarantee you will be surprised, uncomfortable, freaked out, worried, excited, and ultimately entertained by No Good Deed.