IslandGuru Who payed the critics

Cortechba Overrated

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Tss5078 Taking story lines straight out of other films and blending them together, The Samaritan is one strange and confusing film, that will really turn people off. While watching this film, one could easily identify elements straight from films such as Shaft, Payback, and Oldboy, making this film anything but original. Samuel L. Jackson stars as a con man, who has just been released from prison. He's been in there a long time and wants to go straight, but his partners son is determined to make sure that doesn't happen. Samuel L. Jackson is a legendary star that can carry any film he stars in. I love his personality and will watch anything he's in, I even sat through Black Snake Moan, but The Samaritan makes even less sense than that did. The story is just completely all over the place, jumping from one thing to another, without resolving any of the issues it presents. Often times films like that will come together in a terrific ending, but the end of the Samaritan just leaves more questions than answers. Jackson is of course very solid and shows his wide range or ability and emotion, but the rest of the cast is just awful. Independent films often times only feature one person of recognition, but when you're releasing a film like this one, which is heavily advertising that star, you've got to give them something to work with. I honestly feel like some of these people were just pulled off the street and asked if they wanted to be in a movie, their inexperience is that obvious. When you add to that a confusing story line, that is full of slang and innuendo, the result is something that is unwatchable. The biggest star in the world couldn't have made a film like this work.The Samaritan is a rare instance where I wish I had listened to my fellow reviewers and just let this one pass me by.

Roger Burke This story is a pleasant surprise: not only because it doesn't deserve the low score at IMDb, and not only because Samuel Jackson provides an excellent characterization of an ex-grifter and ex-con who is forced into another caper. It's also refreshing, paradoxically, because the story echoes aspects of that classic Korean flick, Old Boy (2003).If you haven't seen Old Boy, however, then you can still see this as a credible piece of entertainment. In a nutshell, Foley (Jackson) is persuaded by Ethan (Luke Kirby) to conduct another grift – upon a thoroughly unpleasant Xavier (Tom Wilkinson), a high-powered business mogul, crook and murderer who is always looking for ways to turn a few million bucks. Foley is unwilling, but Ethan prevails – because he has an advantage Foley can't ignore. Ethan brings in two women – a working girl, Iris (Ruth Negga) and Helena (Deborah Unger) – to assist with the grift. On the night of the caper, though, it all begins to unravel when Helena can't make it...even when eight million is up for grabs.Jackson is excellent as the tired, old ex-con who just wants to be left alone; Kirby is perfect as the wanna-be con artist who needs help from an old grifter; Negga does a good job as a possible love interest; Wilkinson overacts somewhat as the heartless bad guy; Unger, though, acts as though she's in a trance, the only sour note. Watch, especially, for Foley's parole officer, Deacon (Tom McCamus), in a small but effective part – with a decided twist.The plot moves quickly for the most part. And, it has sufficient surprises and twists to keep any viewer's interest. Be aware, though, this is not to the standard of, say, The Sting (1973) or that other classic, The Spanish Prisoner (1997). That said, Samaritan deserves more than five.I give it six out of ten. Recommended for all adults.November 9, 2013

Paul Magne Haakonsen As much as I enjoy Samuel L. Jackson's movies, then "The Samaritan" was a little bit difficult to get through. The movie wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, it was just slow paced and took forever to get anywhere.The story is about Foley (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who gets out from jail after twenty years of incarceration. Wanting to live a respectable and law-abiding life, and with just that life within grasp together with the young woman, Iris, that he met, the past catches up with Foley and he is being pressured into doing another grift.Storywise, then "The Samaritan" was alright. Mind you, it wasn't an overly mind-blowing story, but it was nicely told and well acted, and thus it was a watchable movie. However, this movie is the type that you watch once and never again, as it just doesn't have enough contents to support multiple viewings.What sort of drained the enjoyment out of the movie for my part, aside from the slow pace, was that the storyline was predictable and there were no surprises or thrills anywhere through the entire 90 minutes. As such, then there are far better movies in this particular genre of ex-criminals returning to a life of crime.The cast was alright, and I will say that they did good jobs with their given roles, and it was, of course, Samuel L. Jackson who carried the movie. I will also point out that the supporting roles performed by Alan C. Peterson (playing Miro) and Tom Wilkinson (playing Xavier) really did add something good to the movie.In overall, then "The Samaritan" is a mediocre result, which doesn't bring anything new or spectacular to the genre.

LeonLouisRicci Gritty Grifter Movie that is quite a nifty character study with some usual Neo-Noir twists and one not so usual. It has a commanding lead performance and more than reliable backups and a backdrop of cold Canada as the coarse climate conditions that feel fitting in this bleak environment of gangsters, con-men, and drug addicts.The fortune cookie philosophical quoting that begins and ends the film in narration is clumsy and not needed. It is hackneyed and feels like an overwritten overture. It makes very little sense in the story here and is a small but glaring flaw in this otherwise understated display of a quietly desperate Man whose fate is fatal and futile in the Film-Noir.This is not a comfortable situation and it is not meant to be. It is a cold world out there, especially for a recently released convict who served twenty-five years for murder. But in this Noir world the past is present and sins are rarely forgiven despite said paid debt to society.The Samaritan Grift is unfortunately uninteresting here and there is a sort of a thinly scripted rush as things unfold.