OUR MOVIE REVIEW:

Samaritan fits perfectly in the quality scale you would typically expect from a streamer movie: it’s too good to be a passive TV movie experience, but not quite good enough for an active theatrical viewing. It’s a concept that’s easy to digest, due to being based on things we’re already familiar with as a culture, with an aesthetic twist that you may not have seen on that same familiar concept. That is, unless you’re really into superhero culture.

It’s a fun movie for sure. If your only exposure to superhero stories are through movies and the occasional hit TV show, there may even be some delightful surprises in store. However, I found this film to be treading ground I’ve already seen and read in other media, even in the superhero genre. (The smidge of social commentary we get is the villain’s worldview in My Hero Academia, for example.)

Still, even if Samaritan doesn’t have the strength to make a splash in the superhero marketplace, I think it could have a lasting impression and be the start of a fun franchise for Sylvester Stallone. There’s a lot of potential for interesting stories to tell and expand on the extremely limited worldbuilding provided. However, though potential does not a good movie make, Samaritan is hardly a waste of time.