The official trailer for The Samaritan, the new superhero film starring Sylvester Stallone, has been released. Amazon Prime Video released the video ahead of its global launch on the platform on August 26. Originally slated for a 2020 theatrical release, the film has been delayed several times due to various studio acquisitions. Samaritan was pitched as a story of what happens to superheroes past their prime — using a grounded approach similar to M. Night Shayamalan’s Unbreakable film trilogy.
Set in the fictional Granite City, where crime is rampant and gray skyscrapers soar, the Samaritan trailer first introduces our heroes. Joe Smith (Sylvester Stallone) is a retired superhero who spends his days picking out broken gadgets in the trash and giving them new life — his hobby. This peaceful routine is quickly interrupted when he meets 13-year-old Sam Cleary (Javon Walton), who suspects his neighbor is actually the town legend Samaritan Asian people.
Flashback footage shows that Samaritan was reportedly killed in a violent warehouse fight with his nemesis Furies 25 years ago. Cleary’s suspicions come true when the aged Smith single-handedly rescues him from a gang of bullies and survives a car crash. As far as abilities go, he seems to have super strength and regeneration, but that doesn’t explain the scar on his back from the fire incident. The entire Samaritan trailer was underwhelming, from themes and names (Joe and Sam) to Stallone’s character, as it attempted to recapture the magic of Unbreakable.
Walton seems like a lot of fun, playing an innocent kid who gets very involved in unraveling the mystery surrounding his newfound superhero friend — a far cry from his role in Euphoria. “When you stop caring, things start to fall apart. I stopped caring a long time ago,” Stallone said while explaining his story to Cleary. We’re then introduced to a new villain, Cyrus, played by Pilou Asbæk, who leads a gang of bandits bent on finding out the reason for Samaritan’s long absence.
The Barely Baked Samaritan plot would have us believe that a group of ordinary people would provide a good showdown for the Samaritans, who are nearly invincible in the fight scenes shown in the trailer. The film is based on the graphic novel of the same name by Marc Olivent, Renzo Podesta and Bragi F Schut – the last to adapt it into a script.
julius avery is director Samaritan, best known for the 2014 film Son of a Gun starring Ewan McGregor. The film also stars Martin Starr (Spider-Man: Far From Home) as Arthur, Dasha Polanco as Isabel, Moises Arias as Reza Smith, Natasha Karam and Jerry De Orderick.
Samaritan Streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on August 26.