Bad Samaritan (2018)

“Bad Samaritan” stars David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Carlito Olivero, Kerry Condon, and Jacqueline Byers.  Released on May 4, 2018, the film is about a valet who discovers a captive woman inside the home of a sadistic billionaire.

The film is directed by Dean Devlin, who is known for directing last year’s “Geostorm” and producing films like “Independence Day”, “Godzilla”, and “The Patriot”.  Last weekend, I talked about a film that almost no one knew about, which is “Kings”.  Now, I’m talking about another film that almost no one knew about.  There have been plenty of occasions in movies where the main character discovers something devious and the person doing that diabolical deed will go to great lengths to get rid of that character for good.  This film is one of them.  It also marks a change of pace for first-time director Dean Devlin, transitioning from his recent duties with the action-disaster genre to directing a modern thriller, and for the most part, it was a surprisingly decent transition.

While it’s not a perfect thriller that must be watched by everybody, there were a few things that are suitable enough to warrant a recommendation, such as the performances.  Robert Sheehan did a solid job with his portrayal of Sean Falco, a valet/house burglar who gets caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a ruthless kidnapper, Cale Erendreich, played by former “Doctor Who" star, David Tennant.  The character of Sean showcases an act of redemption, in which he’s willing to give up his life of robbing houses in order to rescue someone he hardly knows, even though it can lead to some consequences that’ll harm his friends and family.  While it’s not as deep as the other films that deal with redemption, it had enough qualities to make me feel connected to Sean and what he’s been going through during his mission.  David Tennant was also riveting as Cale.  His effort didn’t do that much to fully scare me, but he did good in making me want to throw a brick at his character.  The first ten minutes of the film took a little while to get the party started, but once it starts, it held my attention until the very end.  Despite a couple of underwhelming scenes, Dean Devlin was able to keep the thrills at a suitable rate due to his direction and Joesph LoDuca’s score.  There were also a couple of scenes that felt a bit dumb to me, with one of them being laughable instead of scary or thrilling.

Overall, “Bad Samaritan” may look like a Lifetime movie based on the poster alone, but it’s actually a small, thrilling experience that’s surprisingly enjoyable.  It’s a bit hard for me to believe that Dean Devlin directed something that’s somehow better than his first directorial effort last year, but I guessed I needed some “B-movie” entertainment every once in a while.  It’s not going to win everybody over, but if you’re into small-budget thrillers, I would say try to give this one a shot.

B-