Didn't have high expectations, but this was a pretty good movie. The story, with Stallone as a retired super hero living anonymously in a dystopian near future, allows him to play his own age while still being a tough guy in a credible way. The idea works well for him and he is perfect for the part. The kid, who the story sort of revolves around, is also good, and I expect to see a lot more of Danish actor Asbaek (from Bergen and Game of Thrones) who is excellent as an almost sympathetic bad guy. Thankfully the director avoids the one thing I find so annoying about these kinds of movies - endless fight scenes.
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craig-snell-151-14942710 September 2022Is this the best superhero movie ever made, hell no, is it the worst movie ever made, not by a long shot.
Stallone plays to his strengths here- no long bits of dialogue for him to chew over, check
- some good action scenes, check
- vulnerable young kid for him to save, check
- twist in the end you didn't see coming, unless you are that person at work who sees every twist before they even start watching it, check
- actor who makes you say to your family, "who is that guy?, what else was he in?" Check
- laughter track, when you realise it was the annoying kid from Hannah Montana, and the only way he has grown in 15 years is the addition of multi coloured cornrows, check
- reasonably good supporting cast, especially the main bad guy, and then when you realise who it is, and what he was in, makes you hate "the dans" for ruining the end of game of thrones, because that's how Euron Greyjoy should have been
Joking aside, it's a good movie and you won't want the 2 hours back as wasted time, I'd be a happy man if Stallone kept churning out films like this till he enters the pearly gates, yes he's old, but would I want to pick a fight with him god no.
Well done Stallone sir, as it says in this movie "I'm a fan" -
Yeah, he played Judge Dredd and Demolition Man. He was in Guardians of the Galaxy and Rambo is a Bonafede hero, but Samaritan makes me feel like I wanted to see the Italian Stallion (not a bad superhero name at all) as Batman or Captain America, and I know what you're thinking but still, something like that, not necessarily that.
I give Stallone credit for being able to be a selfless actor at times. He knows he's old and he does not mind playing the role of an aging action hero, which he did here so perfectly.
I don't see it as a blockbuster that should have come out in theatres. The fact that the movie revolves around Samaritan's relationship with a 13-year-old boy felt like he was trying to outdo big Arnold's lackluster, Last Action Hero, and it's even more predictable than a Rocky movie without the deep character dive that makes that worth wild Still, it triggered the child in me that remembers when Stallone made movies that might as well made him a superhero and the adult that consumed so many superhero movies that I just want to see the man suit up, for real. -
TxMike26 August 2022Many of the movies I have enjoyed over the recent years are ones where a good guy is able to put the bad guys in their place. Such was "Taken" with Neeson, the series "Reacher" with Richeson. Here we have Stallone playing a guy who tries to be invisible, but is forced to spring into action when he sees wrong.
The back story involves a pair of brothers, twins, one becomes Samaritan, who fights for good, the other becomes his rival, Nemesis. Many years ago in a giant fire it was believed that both of them perished. In Granite City (not the one in Illinois) a young boy keeps his hopes up that somehow Samaritan survived and lives among them.
This is a better role for Stallone than most of his post-Rocky roles. It is a good mix of fantasy and reality. We know that some of the "super" traits he demonstrates is fictional but fit well in the overall story line. The story is good, the action is appropriate, there is a twist of sorts near the end that requires we re-think everything we saw. But there also is lots of violence and language that pushes the boundaries of the is PG-13 rating. I would not want my under-17 children to watch it.
My wife and I watched it on Amazon streaming. We found it to be worthwhile entertainment. -
trinaboice17 September 2022IN A NUTSHELL: A young boy learns that a superhero who was thought to have gone missing after an epic battle twenty years ago may, in fact, still be alive.
The movie was directed by Julius Avery, written by Bragi F. Schut, and stars Sylvester Stallone.
THINGS I LIKED: Who doesn't love Sylvester Stallone? I love the idea of him as an aging superhero. He does a great job and looks fantastic. What an epic career he's had.
Javon "Wanna" Walton stars as the young boy who pulls Samaritan out of "retirement". Don't let his innocent face fool you; in real life, he is a fierce, five-time Georgia State Boxing Champion and four-time USA Boxing South East Regional Champion. He's the youngest athlete to represent the brand Under Armour!
There is a sweet chemistry between Stallone and Walton.
The opening credits look and feel like a comic book, superhero movie. Well done.
I got a kick out of reading the boy's list of people he thought might be Samaritan. One of the notes he wrote said, "Pizza delivery guy - ran really fast." ha ha There's a tasty twist that adds surprising depth.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: "Take back what is yours" by stealing from others? That's what's wrong with society today. People think they're entitled to what others have worked very hard for with no thought of how their actions affect others. Of course, that's the mantra of the bad guys in this movie, but I'm seeing this attitude more and more in everyday life.
There are plenty of action sequences, although none of them are very memorable.
Some of the CGI isn't very good.
It's not entirely clear what Samaritan's or his brother's superpowers are.
Does anyone want an origin story?
TIPS FOR PARENTS: Profanity spoken by adults and kids, including an F-bomb Kids steal We see a shirtless man from the back with scars all over him Bullying A bad guy encourages others to loot and commit violent acts Violence Destruction
THEMES: Physical and emotional scars Being relevant Helping the innocent Service to others Aging Fear and courage Change Reputation -
Mehki_Girl27 August 2022Watched this with hubby who wanted to see it (but I didn't) and we both enjoyed it.
Plenty of action and Sly, despite the fact that he's approaching 80 looks good and believable. You believe he can still kick some a*. He looks like he still works out and keeps in shape since his First Blood days.
With a backdrop of a really poor and crime ridden, gritty city, he (Samaritan) fought Nemises decades ago and is believed to be dead, when a kid fan discovers he's living in plain sight in his own neighborhood.
He gets Samaritan to fight the bad guys. But is Samaritan really the good guy?
Everything converges into an epic battle with plenty of hand to hand combat, guns, weapons, bombs and the kitchen sink thrown in. You could do worse on a Sunday afternoon! -
gareth-7544226 August 2022Really have no clue to the thinking behind movies like this, it's like watching a really bad live action cartoon, the awful clunky editing gives the impression that it was a last minute decision not to make it a mini-series but a TV movie instead.
At 76 years old Stallone does as good a job as actors half his age, some of the physical stunts and fight scenes are surprisingly quite good but the entire movie was let down by childish writing and an overall silly story together with painfully amateurish acting from nearly all the supporting cast, the flip flop personality of characters within each scene made it a confusing watch.
On the whole it could have been good, had the story not been concocted by the person that wrote the lego ninjago animated series.
It honestly reminded me of movies I watched in the late 90s, and no that's not a compliment.
I give this a generous 5 stars for Stallone and a few really good stunts, the rest of the cast along with the story gets a big fat 0. -
GilVillahermosa8 September 2022Yes, the movie could have been much better.
Still, the writing was solid, as were the Actors and acting.
The strong line was above average - Good vs Evil - with a very nice twist that I didn't see coming (and I'm always looking for an anticipating twists).
What happens when a super-hero gets tried of fighting for good and just settles for - settling?
The World is one we've seen a thousand times - an almost post-apocalyptic, dark and struggling with out-of-control crime and poverty.
The tempo ranged from a bit too slow to hyper-fast, filled with lots of action and violence.
The story has a strong ending that made me glad I watched it.
Yes, Stallone is getting old and at the stage in his career where he's pumping out movies as fast and as long as he can before he's too old and no longer marketable.
But like aged Hero of this story - he can still do a great deal of good!
I'm glad he made this movie. And glad I watched it! -
latinfineart25 September 2022Like most movies based on a comic book this movie was really awful. It was particularly bad because it took itself too seriously, there was absolutely no humor and I'm saying that as a fan of Stallone. He just couldn't do anything to save this movie.
Everything about this film reeked of inferiority. Bad direction, bad cinematography, bad edition, and a terrible script. How did this turkey get made? This film is so emblematic of Hollywood's cultural bankruptcy.
Stallone was good, as was the nemesis character. The kid was annoying, the Tom was annoying, the bad guys were baying annoying. There was no entertainment value here.
The scenes at the end were so ridiculous, so comic book, so stupid, and so adolescent.
There was just absolutely no redeeming value in this film, save your time, watch something worthwhile. -
kevdexxx26 August 2022I have no idea of the origins of the characters in the film, but being a Stallone fan I had to give it a watch. A great and stylish beginning leads to a decent and well paced story, with good supporting acting backing up Stallone and his usual grunty and menacing style (nothing wrong with that if you are a fan). The storyline is predictable of course, at least to a point, but that doesn't make it boring to watch, with some nice touches here and there and a few moral lessons thrown in for good measure. There are some good set pieces too, and a good ending. Overall then, worth a watch if you are a fan of sci-fi/superhero/anti-hero films and don't mind Slys "acting".
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You never get to understand what is the motivation of anyone in the movie. The intro is a narration instead of showing action and showing anyone's superpowers. You don't know what the hero's superpowers and limits really are, therefore there are no stakes. Cliche overconfident (without a reason) villain that talks too much but doesn't really have a reason to do any of the bad things he does. They even set up things that never pay of. Characters exist for no good reason.
The action starts at 1:15 and until then almost nothing happens and it's very boring. The "story" is full of conveniences and lucky chances where everything just happens nearby so that the plot can happen.
I dont even know what's the target audience of this movie. The plot is too dumb for adults, and the protagonist is a kid. But there's too much violence for kids of that age to see this movie. The movie tries to be serious and is devoid of comedy. I guess, you can say that it is a bad Terminator 2 movie in that regard.
The only saving grace is a plot twist near the end. Other than that, this movie is a mess. -
ryanmo-351782 September 2022Finally watching a film with Stallone as a super hero. The film is about twins, while one is good (Samaritan) and the other is bad (Nemesis), they disappeared 25 years ago and everyone thought the good killed his brother and vanished. However, the boy was bullied by the bad guys, and Stallone the neighbor came out and punished them, and their friendship started. The bad guy came back and wanna kill him, and I found out his superpower (binary fusion!) where his cells can reproduce and thus he is not getting hurt! Through he need to lower his temperature and thus there is much ice-cream in the fridge! While the bad man (Cyprus) wanna simulate Nemesis and destroy the city and boy, Stallone then went and rescue him. During the fighting, everyone knows he is Nemesis instead of Samaritan! What a surprise! Anyway he knocked down the gangster and rescued the boy, and a happy ending....
Originally a 6-7 stars movie, however I really like the final idea of the movie...do not easily judge who is good and who is bad, your heart can tell you how to be good..so I give a 8 points to it! Keep going! -
You know this was so close to being a good movie.
It needed more Rambo level violence, basically all the action scenes lacked a punch, I don't think I seen one person get cut. Stallones character was bottling up so much rage so to just resort to mainly pushing people was a bit of a letdown.
My main issue was with the bad guy though, I had no idea what his plan was, or why he was motivated to do it.
I'd pretty much given up on him as soon as regular people on the street start clapping him and following him into some kind of cult, who wrote that nonsense.
Anyway I'll end on the positives, it was a good idea for a movie and Stallone was great as a haunted has been hero. -
jon-9603631 August 2022Sad. Chaotic. Predictable. Sly Stallone in the lead role as the super-guy with unexplained powers of strength. No plot but many wanna-be-special effects.
And some very melodramatic, angry faced, disposable bad guys doing bad things and making it personal for Sly.
Somewhere along the way there is a clueless mom who wishes her son would go down the right path.
And sprinkled all along are mouth-y blabbering impetuous teenagers, talking big and acting poorly.
It was rated number one and free with Amazon prime. And now I want my time and my money back.
Just. Sad. My IQ dipped just watching this one.
JDMc. -
kosweddings28 August 2022I love Stallone. He's my hero really. And I love how he puts his heart and soul into any movie he commits to. The Samaritin is a decent movie, but with no hero/villian devopment at all it's hard to make the mental jump. There just isn't enough laid down in the back story for you to really care about any of the characters. It's not a bad movie idea, and plays into an older Stallone pretty well, but its just not excuted well at all.
Everything seemed rushed and unppaslable. The kid was okay, looked a bit like a young river Phenoix but without the acting chops.
The Villian was a Bane from "The dark Knight rises" wannabe.. This is an entertaining and decent film, with Sly giving great one line advice and good action scenes. But ultimately, it's nothing new and a bit awkward.
6 out of ten. -
Intrigued by the trailer, this looked like it could have been a real gritty and compelling story, but I think the film only partially delivered. It takes on a comic book air at the outset with a narrative of a super-hero attempting to save Granite City from a hostile nemesis named..., well, Nemesis. Both presumed dead now for twenty-five years, the city, and particularly one young boy, have reason to believe that the hero called Samaritan somehow survived a fiery death and will come out of the shadows to take on a new villain with a mission to shut down the city's electrical grid and return power to its citizens, which in this case refers to the low-life elements who would run amok and loot the city for all its worth.
We've seen Sylvester Stallone as the unassuming hero before ("Rocky", 1976), as well as the hassled ex-military man on the run and forced to defend himself against an out of control, narrow minded sheriff ("First Blood", 1982). In this one, something felt off about his character, Joe Smith. It sounded like he was trying to change his voice for the part, and it felt unnatural. The young kid Sam Cleary (Javon 'Wanna' Walton) was okay, but it felt like the script couldn't decide if he was going to turn out a good kid or a bad one. Swayed by his insistence that Joe Smith was once the city's champion Samaritan, Sam forces Joe to take on Granite City's new Nemesis Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk) with three simple words - "You help people".
The film offers enough clues as to the real identity of Joe Smith, harking back a quarter century ago, but the reveal turns things slightly on its head as we come to grips with a former villain attempting to seek redemption as Granite City's new hero. Combined with some supernatural elements in the story, like the hand forged hammer reminiscent of Marvel's Thor, the story came across as just slightly contrived and derivative. Not to say it was bad and not worth seeing, but I guess what I expected was something more.
P. S. Keep an eye on the body language expressed in the scene of Reza's (Moises Arias) thugs running down Joe in their car. Joe's body is splayed in a crucifixion pose, calling to mind a similar scene at the finale of "Cool Hand Luke". -
simplifiyourlifenow1 September 2022......he's really the only part of the movie that kept me going to the half way mark. I couldn't risk losing anymore IQ points watching the rest.
It's not an atrocious movie, it's just made for a younger audience.
It's cliched, simple and been done before (narration wise).
The dumbed down sewage spilling on to our screens from Hollywood is never ending.
Finding a two hour worthy memorable movie is becoming more and more elusive.
If you're 13 and have less discernment than a hungry labrador you'll mark this in the upper quartile.
Stallone will be remembered for many movies, this will certainly not be one of them. -
Top_Dawg_Critic27 August 2022In the oversaturated arena of superhero films, that last thing you want to see is a bland story riddled with plot and technical issues. Aside from Sly's amazing presence, even he couldn't save the cliched and underwhelming screenplay. Aside from one decent twist, the rest of the story was generic and predictable, and lacked that "superhero intensity" in its writing. There wasn't enough substance in the story to merit the 102 min runtime, and the slow pacing didn't help much either. The directing wasn't any better with the long dragged out scenes, and the constant 360-degree spins everyone did when they got punched. I mean what's up with that nonsense anyway, was the action choreographer a gymnast? It's an ok one-time watch, especially if you're a Sly fan.
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FeastMode29 August 2022Samaritan starts off with a really cool stylized opening scene that got me excited. The first act is mildly entertaining. You can feel the streaming-level quality but it's still enjoyable in one-time viewing kind of way.
Then the second act starts to meander and lose steam. I start to notice the bad acting, the inconsistencies in logic, the idiotic character decisions, and some really stupid parts that made me roll my eyes. The third act doubles down on all of this.
I went from "this is pretty decent" to "get this movie out of here." It also didn't help that I found it fully predictable. Maybe I watch too many movies but nothing surprised me.
But the thing that annoyed me the most is the decision to make this PG-13. All of the action scenes are screaming for an unrestricted R-rating. I saw a similar thing with Netflix's The Gray Man. It's a much better movie but should have definitely been rated R.
The difference is, The Gray Man did a great job of hiding the restrictions on violence, strategically with camera angles and edits. Samaritan doesn't try to hide it at all. There are scenes of brutal violence with zero blood. A throat is slit... with ZERO blood. It makes the movie feel amateur.
We keep seeing examples like this, like Morbius, a vampire movie without blood. I don't know when they're going to learn that this is a terrible strategy. PG-13 supposedly sells more tickets, but a good rated R movie is going to be more successful than a bad PG-13 movie.
But... this is a streaming movie with, to my knowledge, no theatrical showings. Tickets aren't sold. So why in the world would you limit yourself? Same with The Gray Man (limited theatrical release). I'll never understand it. Stop being cowards and go all out. (1 viewing, 8/28/2022) -
Fun.
Pop some corn and kick back and turn off the critic and enjoy. It's a comic book type story.
And it's got stallone. When did you think THIS would ever happen again?
Six hundred characters? That's got to be at LEAST 10 times what the movie has. Am i going to get PAID by the character? Oh wait! That's right! I'm not getting paid at ALL, am i?
Well...i think this 600 character thing is a new requirement...and i was wondering why noone else had already written a review...maybe there's a kickback so that people won't trash the movie so that the producers can actually make a few bucks. I hope you're catching on that at THIS point i don't CARE if you print this or not...like YOU'RE doing ME a favor? I don't think so...hey! How do ya like them Mets? Are they anywhere in the standings this year? Who can, or even better yet, would WANT to write a review with 600 characters on a movie like this? -
Samaritan starring Sylvester Stallone is a movie about an aging superhero who has stepped away from his crime fighting days and is living low-key as a commoner. That's a somewhat interesting premise that could have been explored so much more instead of what ended up being presented on screen, which turned out to be the most basic, uninteresting, uninspired and lazily written version of it imaginable.
The whole lore behind the movie about Samaritan and Nemesis is some of the goofiest and silliest you would see for a movie that tries so hard to convince you of how seriously we should all be taking it. And even the names Samaritan and Nemesis... Like are they even trying at this point? There was one somewhat interesting plot twist in the third act but that in no way helps this movie which was already dead by the time it reaches its third act. And all in all, there isn't much positively to say about this movie. Even the acting was sub-par at best (Stallone) to straight up amateur hour (the kid, the villain, his girlfriend, his lackeys...) for the most of it. But if you were to force me to pick one thing refreshing about this movie, I'd maybe say the camerawork and coloring that presents a somewhat noticeably cold take on a struggling city. That, and maybe Sylvester Stallone, but only because I love Sylvester Stallone.
Overall, I appreciate what this movie could have been, but that's still not enough to save Samaritan from its own writing that makes the whole thing feel underwhelmingly silly. -
tsroque28 August 2022I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. I have never been a huge Sylvester Stallone fan, but I like the raw, grittiness of this character. Reminded me of his Rocky days. I also find myself liking the movies he's been doing lately. They typically have a message and things get blown up and bad guy smashed to pieces. LOL! So, I guess I'm more of a fan than I thought, which is another surprise. This movie is violent but but enough to where you can not watch with your whole family. It is your typical good vs evil but with a small predictable twist. 'Wanna' did a great job and I enjoyed his acting and role in this movie too.
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MB-reviewer18528 August 2022This movie had a good plot and Sylvester Stallone was good in the movie, I just think they could have used the idea more than what they did. There is a twist I will not spoil but it surprised me.
Sylvester Stallone had a satisfactory performance as this hero trying to be a normal person, and the kid played by Javon Walton had a good bond with Stallone's character throughout the movie.
When the action scenes happen, they look cool and can be nicely shot. There are some little funny scenes throughout the movie, also I the movie was a bit slow at times, but it did not bother me as much because I was focused on what was happening.
The main villain had a backstory connected to Stallone's character, but I wanted a more to it than just that. I will say, the backstory for both characters is interesting and got me behind them.
Samaritan (2022) was an entertaining movie I just wanted more to the main idea it focuses on. Some people might like it and others might not, but I liked it for what it was. -
joebuttonz27 August 2022This movie is beyond terrible.
1. The story makes no sense. How did Samaritan and Nemesis get their powers? Why did they hate each other? How did Samaritan die, he fell into fire? But he's indestructible?! That makes no sense.
2. Terrible acting. This boy was beyond annoying the entire movie. He always had on a back pack but never went to school. He spent all of his time trying to find a "super hero" to save him and his mom and didn't care who he hurt or whose life he ruined in the process. The mom blamed everyone for her problems and never knew where her son was, or what he was doing. She said the most nonsense lines: don't hurt my son or you'll see a side of me you won't like. She says this while completely surrounded by guns. Why?!
3. Nonsense bad guy. Why did Cyrus hate Samaritan so much? He wanted the world to burn for what reason?? And when he found out that Nemsis was alive and trying to be a good guy he still tried to be like him??! What was the point?
4. Terrible directing. I was skeptical when I saw the name: Julius Avery and he had no good movies to his name, but I decided to give him a try. Never again will I make that mistake. The camera was all over the place. The first 7 minutes was a cartoon trying to explain bad guy vs good guy. There was no explanation about any of the characters.
Awful. Throw the whole movie away. -
DBJones-CQS28 August 2022Stalone was great, always is. The kid, Javon 'Wanna' Walton, did a great job acting, but his caracter is so obnoxious and self centered. Steals from his worshipped hero. Who wrote this? Are all the script writer's kid like this or something. Don't they have any good examples of kids? I got tired of him after 20 minutes. Is this the only example that they could come up with? This script has been played thousands of times, exactly like this. Zero innovation. Get new script writers Mr. Stalone, please.
About the bad guys, so unrealistic. Same old bad guys. Walks into a police station, tells them what he's going to do, walks into the evidence room, after blowing up the front, gets what he wants, no problem.
As always, all of Mr. Stalone's movies have potential. Most of them are great, some are good, and a few are, watchable during a five day snow blizzard. This one, watchable while making popcorn for the next movie.
Thank you for your time.