The superhero boom, economically speaking, is guided by the market power of a few brands (Marvel and DC, now effectively Disney and Warner Bros.), which are ahead of other studios in the race for box office supremacy. Even though there might be different tales within these filmic mythologies, they still look remarkably similar. That is why Samaritan’s plot—a story about a small business that stands up to multinational corporations—comes as a welcome relief from MCU’s Walmart-like production.
Samaritan does not resemble any Marvel or DC movie: it is distinct from colorful visuals and comic moments typical for the former and dark melodramatic elements depicted in the latter. Meanwhile Sylvester Stallone’s new Amazon Prime Video release where he plays an ex-superhero who faked his death and now works as garbage collector under Joe Smith—the most stupid name—is something completely offbeat amidst all those clean superhero movies like Superbob or The Dark Knight Rises.
A weighty ethical implication lies behind Samaritan, which wisely tells its story through the eyes of a child with some great action scenes thrown in here and there under keen direction. In spite of its sometimes flabby script and a couple of pacing issues, Samaritan deserves more consideration than critics have given it.
Samaritan is largely viewed through Sam Cleavy (played by young actor Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) who was somewhat better than Utopia as whole series even in its American version; besides he has appeared conspicuously at Euphoria and The Umbrella Academy as another promising face on our screens. Sam is but a little guy whose childlike naiveté radically contradicts grim facts about his life. He lives together with his mother at what could be referred to as an abandoned housing complex—an ugly sore amidst other malignant features within this wretched cityscape.
Julius Avery successfully creates an actual cesspool known as Granite City; thus he portrays it as the ever-damp, grey, foggy US urbanism. Being shot in Atlanta, Samaritan looks as if Avery has merged the back streets and bus stations from every worst section of Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit into one filthy metropolis that is a gloomy reflection of future America.
That’s all about the working class with only some upscale criminals who live amid filth. Here on this earth the Wall Street godfathers have flown somewhere to the very top of some skyscraper far-away out there, whereas the forgotten poor and laborers left to die or rot in this terrible damp city.
It has been years since Samaritan and Nemesis, two super-powered brothers, fought each other to death in the opening of the film. In a simplified manner that is childish at its best, this section gives their background story as if there were beginning a fairy tale.
The two brothers were polar opposites- one represented by “good” and the other by “evil” – as seen from their names; without them however, Granite City is put into a difficult place. But what about people who live in poverty or are hungry? Are they bad just because they commit crimes? What about police officers who arrest them and keep perpetuating the prison industrial complex that eventually results poor economic conditions for society and all their dependents? Are they the good guys?
While being entertaining enough to avoid such questions spoiling the fun of it all, Samaritan powerfully raises issues about income disparities and something like proletarian revolt albeit ethically ambivalent. It shows criminals living amongst garbage in an abandoned cityscape oppressed by politicians and cops who desire to be violent insurrectionaries with eyes on retaking this community; hence they worship Nemesis while seeing Samaritan as yet another cop. This fairly involved set-up brings to mind lots of contemporary sociopolitical matters including protests and grievances.
In some ways therefore, Samaritan might be considered as cautionary tales regarding superheroes and vigilantism due to fact that every villain sees himself as hero. Hitler didn’t think he was an evil monster or Pol Pot thought he was a villainous cretin but someone fighting against international corruption in his country – Samaritan suggests that it is smart to have ‘good guy’ blind spots or ideologies.
However Sam worships Samaritan so much but he sees ‘the good guy’/‘the bad guy’ split differently where one gets punished because Sam’s perception of Cyrus (played brilliantly by Game of Thrones’ Pilou Asbæk, practically never seen in a film without channeling Michael Shannon’s career best sweaty rage… which is a good thing) shifts. Cyrus’ gang are basically small time criminals, but he thinks of himself as a revolutionary, the next Nemesis of course- The real proletariat revolt. His intentions aren’t so ill-minded; he claims to be “punching up,” targeting the class system and institutions that have turned Granite City into a near post-apocalyptic wasteland.
However Sam believes that one of his neighbors in the run-down apartment complex might be Samaritan and hiding under an assumed name since faking his death. Sylvester Stallone plays convincingly as Joe Smith (with some occasional slurred punch-drunk speech). Joe used to fix things like broken radio sets, toasters and watches although now he no longer has an interest in fixing himself or the world but Sam’s untrained enthusiasm may be what could start him off again.
Stallone’s character is another example of the engaging psychology and politics of the film, perhaps a little bit like Ben Affleck’s Batman in Snyder movies or Thomas Jane’s Punisher in Dirty Laundry. He is known as a man who was once on a mission to save the world but now believes that the world doesn’t deserve to be saved; and that nihilistic logic is hard to argue with. If he were a superhero, he’d be the perfect representation of the Doomer generation, which refers to fatalistic people who consider climate catastrophe, economic slavery, peak oil, political corruption and corporate malfeasance as unstoppable forces; therefore, they prefer to keep away from others while sulking and lamenting over what they believe they can’t change. Simply put: he is our hero for today.
A late reveal will follow by epic showdown in Samaritan takes its sociopolitical commentary in a very interesting direction devoid of fascism that some superhero films have introduced us with and into complex power-politics of difference that Deleuze and Foucault talk about. While there are no easy answers here this will provide you with a pretty rousing good time. They are action packed scenes that defy physics sometimes ridiculous and illogical yet thrillingly filmed matter-of-factly without being overly edited like recent CGI heavy battles we seein most superhero movies. The plot although at times slow moving provides nice character development for Sam & Joe as well as fleshes out villains such as Cyrus.
Of course , some commentators might think this movie is borderline-racist polemic against urban city kids and street gangs but it isn’t any twisted neo-con revenge film wish fulfillment like Death Wish or any other one . This movie does not explicitly condemn or glorify any of its characters but rather presents them with a challenging morally complex reality before examining their choices within that context. Yes there is some trite dialogue (especially by non-white characters)and all the people who are powerful in it are white but to brand this film racist or fascist misses the point about Granite City itself.
In conclusion, Samaritan is a very satisfying, sometimes slow-moving and illogical movie, yet one that stands out from the mass of homogenous superhero films due to its original characters and premise. It’s a joyfully self-contained story; you don’t have to watch 28 other movies before you can enjoy it or understand it. It treats its politics as seriously as its three main characters (Sam, Joe and Cyrus) even though the supporting cast are extremely underdeveloped.
Samaritan fits nicely into Sylvester Stallone’s filmography of underdog characters, but what makes it almost more interesting than anything else he has done in recent years is its thematically powerful and significant twist. While critics have railed against the movie, audiences have seemed to adore it; so do not believe all of these bad reviews and check out for yourself because perhaps Samaritan is a fascinating outsider film sitting on the fringes of an oversaturated economic world superhero cinema.
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