Electric Entertainment
When an actor becomes closely associated with a particular role and is beloved by fans who then refuse to separate the actor from the character they play, said actor usually takes on a role that’s 180 degrees away from the one everyone loves them for, hoping to finally put some distance between them and that character. After leaving Doctor Who, David Tennant took on the role of Detective Alec Hardy in the gritty crime drama Broadchurch for three seasons (and as Detective Emmett Carter in the single season US version Gracepoint). He’s done voice work for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Family Guy, and most recently the Duck Tales reboot. And now he moves as far away from Doctor Who as he can as Cale Erendreich in Bad Samaritan.
Bad Samaritan is a thriller starring Robert Sheehan (Misfits) as aspiring photographer Sean Falco (he’s also an Irish immigrant for no other reason than his casting). Sean has a girlfriend, Riley (Jacqueline Byers), he loves and a stepfather he isn’t too fond of because he’s always telling Sean to get a real job. To make ends meet, Sean works as a valet (in Portland, OR, a vocation that is apparently alien to the city) with his friend Derek (Carlito Olivero, former Menudo member). Sean is also a petty thief and he and Derek use the opportunity of parking cars to actually go to the owner’s home and steal items to make even more money. One night a man in a very expensive car pulls up and the two young men see this as a huge score. It’s Sean’s turn to see what he can find, and he does come across some unopened mail that includes an as yet unactivated Black credit card (which he activates). Sean goes through the house and comes upon a door with a massive lock on it, so there must be something of terrific value inside. With the keys in hand, he opens the door and finds … a woman, gagged and chained to a chair, but no way to release her. Panicked when she tells him there is a camera in the room, Sean is forced to leave her behind but his conscience gets the best of him. What Sean doesn’t count on is Cale’s extreme tech savvy, which then makes Sean’s life hell. Can he save the women before Cale completely destroys him?
Bad Samaritan is an interesting modern thriller that attempts to play on our fears of technology. It posits that someone, anyone, can be watching us, tracking our movements or listening in to our conversations. Sometimes you have to suspend disbelief to think that an ordinary citizen, no matter how rich he is (and Cale is loaded), has the means to acquire and utilize all of this tech to track not only Sean, but his friends and family. There’s also some nonsense about why Cale has kidnapped the woman, and apparently near the end he puts on a wig that only gives him slightly curlier hair than he naturally has. Those are just some minor quibbles.
Tennant is fine as Cale, but sometimes he tends to overact by bugging his eyes out and tensing his facial muscles. His demeanor is almost a bit too intense, virtually screaming ‘I DID IT!’ when questioned by the police, who then just think Sean is a crackpot (it was an odd scene because the officer really did seem to be playing along with Cale but knew he was up to something). Cale just feels like an under-written character and Tennant is doing all he can to make the guy interesting and intimidating (his occasional screams of frustration almost induce giggling).
Electric Entertainment
Getting a much better part is Sheehan. Sean is a pretty well-rounded, realistic character who has both positive and negative characteristics … as we all do. He is a good photographer, not great, but he doesn’t want to compromise his art for a corporate job. He loves his girlfriend, he has a good relationship with Derek and their boss. On the downside, he steals from people, but he still goes out of his way to help the woman regardless of what it means for him personally (hence the title of the movie, which was originally ‘No Good Deed’ … which may have been a better choice). Whatever his flaws, Sheehan manages to make Sean endearing and someone you care about. Olivero is also very good as Derek, also a very flawed person, but you still root for him as he tries to help Sean as best he can.
As for the women, Byers’ role is pretty much a throw-away part, the girlfriend only there to make us see Sean as a sympathetic person. Condon is good as Katie, the kidnap victim. She doesn’t have much to say because of how her captor is treating her, but she does a lot with her expressions. The one misstep in the writing is how she reacts to Sean after he attempts to help her escape near the film’s climax. It comes off as quite ungrateful considering all that he’s endured at that point.
Bad Samaritan is now available on home video. The DVD version we received for review looks fine, but lacks a lot of visual detail, as can be expected. The image looks a bit muddy on an HD television, even upscaled to 4K. The audio is nice and robust though, with clear dialog and music and sound effects spread nicely around the surrounds. If you’ve got an HD television, you’re definitely going to want to get the Blu-ray for the optimum visual experience.
Both the DVD and Blu-ray have identical extras.
- Audio Commentary – Director Dean Devlin and writer Brandon Boyce offer an entertaining conversation about the making of the movie, the casting and filming process. Unlike some commentaries, both men are in the room together so they can actually have a conversation and it’s one of the more lively tracks from recent releases.
- 7 Deleted Scenes – Available to watch individually or with a Play All function, but oddly the scenes are not in chronological order, which is a bit jarring. Watching them, however, and you can see why they were cut, particularly the two end scenes which are just a bit too saccharine for the tone of the movie.
Not much in the way of bonus material, but the commentary track is worth the time. Bad Samaritan isn’t the greatest thriller ever made, but it is interesting enough to hold your interest.
David Tennant fans may want to check it out just to see him play a very different character, but you’ll probably be more impressed with Robert Sheehan in the end. Bad Samaritan is available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment generously provided Hotchka with a DVD version of the film for reviewing purposes.
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