Synopsis
After twenty years in prison, Foley is finished with the grifter's life. When he meets an elusive young woman named Iris, the possibility of a new start looks real. But his past is proving to be a stubborn companion.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Samuel L. JacksonFoley
- Luke KirbyEthan
- Ruth NeggaIris
- Tom WilkinsonXavier
- A.C. PetersonMiro
- Gil BellowsBartender Bill
- Aaron PooleJake
- Tom McCamusDeacon
- Deborah Kara UngerHelena
- Rob ArcherVernon Hicks
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The Samaritan isn't a great noir, but it's true to the tradition and gives Samuel L. Jackson one of his best recent roles. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
A gritty serving of pulp fiction masterfully perpetrated by Samuel L. Jackson as a philosophical ex-con trying to buck the considerable odds by taking a shot at redemption. - 55
Movieline
Svelte enough in its reassembling of familiar elements to be, for a while, as comfortably pleasant as sipping on what once used to be your go-to drink - until The Samaritan takes a jarring turn right out of Park Chan-wook, and from there takes a tumble into ludicrousness from which it doesn't recover. - 50
Variety
If anything, this Canadian production misses a great opportunity to dig into its setting and examine the dark side of seemingly pristine Toronto, even as the script by Elan Mastai and director David Weaver labors over a mostly boilerplate storyline. - 50
Chicago Reader
An odd stylistic mash-up, the movie never quite coheres, in part because the characters are so thin that the style doesn't have much to cohere to. - 42
The A.V. Club
It's difficult to describe The Samaritan, in which Samuel L. Jackson plays an ex-con trying to return to the straight and narrow after 25 years inside, without overlapping a dozen other movies in his nigh-endless filmography, nor watch any scene without thinking of how many times he's drawn from the same bag of tricks. - 40
The Guardian
A clotted, knotted, twisty noir that is, unfortunately, short on the required atmosphere. - 30
Village Voice
Weaver's story slowly begins to buckle under the weight of its own self-seriousness and familiarity, concluding with a showdown and resolution marked by one implausible and unsatisfying been-here-done-that twist after another.
