Samaritan (now available on Prime Video) is eloquent in his intentions. The protagonist of it is a complete hero. During the first ten minutes of the film, it becomes clear that the main interest of Bragi F Schut’s script is kindness. The one that stands on ideals or, in the case of the mysterious Joe (Sylvester Stallone), in a discreet perception of duty. For the argument, doing the right thing is more related to conscience than to the almost irrational commitment of the hero.
which, allows the premise is more innovative than it seems. Director Julius Avery intentionally steps away from all superhero genre filmmaking to date and starts something new. In any case, he tries hard and the result is, for the most part, solid and intelligent.
In particular, in the midst of a scenario that tends to the realistic and that shows a world in which men of exceptional ability are part of history. But, not to the level of well-intentioned celebrities like in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Neither, mocking villains as it shows them TheBoys or the demigods of DC. In Samaritan, they are creatures of flesh and blood, with bugs and private battles. Which changes the tone of the movie completely.
Samaritan
Samaritan does not offer easy answers and that is one of its greatest strengths. Much more, when his subtlety in showing what a superhero could be in a corrupt, pessimistic and dark world is meticulous. The director manages to raise big questions about the responsibility of the powerful in less than twenty minutes.
A real world, with real problems and in the middle of darkness
The film is a recreation of a cynical and pessimistic reality, in which despair invades the future. The titular Samaritan is a superman turned legend who died—or so it is assumed—trying to stop twin brother Nemesis from destroying his hometown of Granite. The hero and the exact counterpart of him, had the same powers, abilities and insisted on their respective ideals.
But, each one fought in the opposite direction. There is even a certain political discourse in the reason why the great men with powers fight. What made Samaritan try to keep order in the city? Was it his point of view on morality or just the defense of the established? What was Nemesis facing? To that line between rich and poor in a similar scenario?
Samaritan it does not offer simple answers and that is one of its greatest strengths. Much more, on your way to show what a superhero could be in a corrupt, pessimistic and dark world. The director manages to raise big questions about the responsibility of the powerful in less than twenty minutes. Also, of the tricks of moral judgments to justify evil. In the midst of such disparate and solid ideas, the production finds an intelligent story about silent exploits.
A city with scars to heal and a mystery to solve
Granite City recovers from his injuries. As a beat-up Gotham, she still remembers the last great battle between her main defender and the villain she was up against. But if such a fight is part of the classic imagery of superhero plots, Avery brings surprising sensitivity to the context. It is not just the clash that occurred between two identical forces. In reality, the loss of the ideals that supported both one and the other is reported.
The city suffers. With an aspect in ruins, the streets turned into small fields of criminal confrontation and a dirty aesthetic, the world imagined by Samaritan, is consistent. So much so as to be believable that once, two men in metallic suits were his main symbols of power. The death of both deepens the certainty that there is nothing to lose. Granite City knows this and tries to overcome it, without completely succeeding. The film insists on one point: there was a time of splendor and it is remembered with melancholy and fear.
Samaritan he makes that clear when Sam (Javon Walton) starts an investigation. The teenager, obsessed with the old glories of the fallen, is the only one who believes the tragic history of the city is not entirely clear. At least, it is incomplete. What would happen if the superhero were alive?
After all, the long trail of his cruel brother Nemesis is still part of street culture. The memory of him has adorers, admirers and even the criminal gangs of the city imitate him. The leader of all of them, Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), maintains a kind of cult to the memory of the villain. Was he really the epitome of evil? Soon, Sam discovers that the truth -reality- has many layers.
The script does not try to justify why the young man is convinced that the hero survived. But it is evident that it is a form of hope. Sam’s character has the curious quality of mirroring Granite City: he is as fragile as he is strong. Part of a generation that grew up in the shadows of tales of men who battled like mythical gods. However, the truth is concrete. They were not gods or demons. They were human beings of superior strength, but not for that, less complex than the rest.
The great figures that hide in the shadow
Joe (Sylvester Stallone) plays more than just a mystery to solve. Her unexpected encounter with Sam turns him into something of an exhausted do-gooder. The nuances and intelligence with which the actor represents a man with a harsh past behind him and disappointment in the future are surprising.
Especially when he is not the only enigmatic figure with waterproof and singular super strength in the cinema of the last ten years. Comparisons with The Protected by M. Night Shyamalan are unavoidable. But if Bruce Willis emphasized the pain of an unexplained secret, Stallone creates a totally human character, full of nuances.
This powerful being who is also a tired survivor, Joe has a lot of Rocky Balboa. With his vulnerability hidden from him under the rough shell of a man trying to preserve his dignity, Stallone manages to move. Specifically, when Sam discovers the obvious secret that defines him. Beyond that, the way in which the interpreter analyzes loneliness, exclusion and in the end, the inexcusable duty surprises by his sensitivity.
Joe is not a blind hero. He is one who knows what he lost and what he could still face. In turn, he is that messy and exhausted path, which makes Stallone’s character more believable. Still a victim of a battle of titans that he lost, he crosses the road by voluntary decision. “Not all of us are heroes, almost no one is. But yeah, we all know when to do good,” Joe tells Sam. He does it, with a firm conviction, resolute, without great fuss. For this titan of the street – or the one that was one – things are obvious. You do what you must. As you can and whenever necessary.
Samaritan: good superhero cinema is possible
For the third installment of the film, a new confrontation is about to occur and the city jumps out as a witness. Irrational, powerful, it’s not just context, but a character by itself. Then, Samaritan perhaps he lost his good pulse of a particular universe that he showed in a good part of his argument. He also did something else: proved that the superhero genre can be renewed.
Most of the super powerful figures in cinema are linked to a blurred and poorly explained purpose. They defend the innocent because they have the ability to do so. However, what if the target’s sense was more humane? More mundane, much more related to the intellectual and moral decisions of the hero, Samaritan make a risky decision.
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His hero is part of the history of the street. He is a man who must sustain on his strength—spiritual and physical—the condition of a city divided by his history. It is this premise, which allows the film to visit places of great interest in the midst of a clean, simple and honest narrative. The production is small in its ambitions, but enormous in its credibility. Probably what makes it so deep, well thought out and ultimately moving.