This, from nonsense-monger Dean Devlin (director of ‘Geostorm’, producer of ‘Independence Day’ and the 1998 ‘Godzilla’), is the cinematic equivalent of an airport novel. It’s absolute trash and you’re unlikely to ever return to it once it’s done, but, God, it’s highly entertaining and its daftness is a large part of its appeal.
Robert Sheehan plays Sean Falco, a petty criminal who, along with his best friend (Carlito Olivero), has a scam going as a parking valet at a high-end restaurant. Once they have the customer’s keys, they drive the car to the owner’s home and rob them. When one particularly obnoxious customer, Cale (David Tennant), shows up in a very swanky car, Sean relishes the opportunity to burgle him. However, poking around Cale’s house, Sean finds something horrifying: a woman (Kerry Condon), bloodied and chained to a chair. If he frees her, Cale will come after him. If he leaves her, he knows she’ll die.
The game of cat-and-mouse as Sean tries to best Cale is high on tension and schlocky scares, even as it barrels through gigantic plot holes and spirals into absurdity. Tennant skirts the edge of pantomime, thrillingly, as a sleek psychopath, screaming and hissing his way through his convoluted plans, which are all a good 60 percent more elaborate than necessary. Sheehan reminds you just how strong a leading man he can be: he does Man on the Edge very well. By its conclusion, ‘Bad Samaritan’ is laughably silly, but no less fun for that.
