Samaritan Review

Samaritan is a 2022 action-adventure superhero film on AmazonPrime. 

The film takes place in present-day Granite City 25 years after the superhero Samaritan and his supervillain twin brother Nemesis went missing after a power plant explosion.

 

The city has fallen into economic depression and lawlessness, reminiscent of Joe Biden’s America Last policies and crime-filled Democrat-run cities

 

The movie follows Sam, a 13-year-old boy living with his widowed mom who learns that his neighbor Joe Smith (played by Sylvester Stallone) may be Samaritan. He spent his whole life idolizing Samaritan as his hero after his dad died, so he’s naturally excited to meet the real-life Samaritan.

 

His suspicions are confirmed when Joe survives a hit-and-run and his healing powers kick in. Joe’s only weakness is that his body overheats when he gets hurt, and if his body gets too hot he would die.

 

Sam falls into a crowd of criminals led by Cyrus, who uses Nemesis’ likeness and weapon to cause chaos and anarchy in Granite City, which leads to riots and looting similar to the 2020 BLM-AntiFa Summer of Rage riots.

 

In the third act, Sam is taken captive and Joe must rescue him from Cyrus and his men. This leads to the confirmed revelation that Joe is really Nemesis, not his twin brother Samaritan.

 

Now, the foreshadowing for Joe’s true identity was hinted at throughout the film, starting with the filmmakers’ choice to make Samaritan and Nemesis identical twin brothers. That plot decision isn’t good or bad, depending on how it’s executed.

 

The “bad guy turned good guy coming out of retirement” storyline was just as good as the “reclusive hero comes out of retirement and partners with a young sidekick” plot shown in the movie’s trailer.

 

After the climax, Joe gives Sam the “Two Wolves” analogy: that each person must decide for themselves if they’ll change and do good or evil.

 

Joe chose to attempt to save his brother from the fire, and when he failed, he gave up being a villain in order to have a normal life and let people make their own decisions.

 

He also can’t stand criminals using his old Nemesis identity to spread lawlessness and disorder.

 

The film ends with Sam proclaiming that Samaritan “is alive,” leaving the possibility open that Joe will choose to keep his brother’s legacy alive as a symbol of hope for the people against chaos and anarchy, by letting everyone believe he really is Samaritan.

 

Overall, Samaritan is a good and fun action film. And it’s great seeing the dynamic between Joe and Sam as the film progresses. You can really connect with them.

 

And in an age where superhero movies and shows sacrifice character and story/plot in favor of wokeness and anti-masculinity themes, it’s a welcome sign to see a good story with relatively original/unknown characters. It’s better than how Marvel portrayed Hawkeye in the Disney+ show “Hawkeye” and how Disney Star Wars ruined the original characters of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

 

It embraces real masculinity and traditional values instead of wokeness and leftist feminism.

Stallone gives a good performance as the grizzled and reclusive Joe who learns to open up to Sam and impart some wisdom to the young boy in need of a mentor/father-figure. Rocky Balboa/John Rambo certainly proved he still has what it takes to lead a film.