This film starts out kinda pedestrian, goes abbbbsolutely tonto – Tony J Fyler
Robert Sheehan plays Sean Falco, a photographer with high dreams of going places with his girlfriend Riley Seabrook. However, the cold hard reality of it all, is as much as his photography gets him a little money, it'll never get him the fame and fortune he so desperately wants. Riley can probably see this and so pursues her own career by working through university, something Falco was never keen on. Education. Good Job!
Falco does have another money-making scheme however, that pays dividends, but at the expense of others. He's a small-time thief working as a valet alongside his friend Derek Sandoval. They set up outside Nino's Restaurant, (it's part of the service by the restaurant), except Nino doesn't know that their side-line is driving the cars to the owner’s homes and robbing them blind, while they sit unaware inside.
This scam has been going on for some time and they're making enough to get them by, but when Cale Erendreich pulls up in his Maserati, things take a walk on the very wild side. It's Falco who gets behind the wheel of the car, but already Cale creeps them both out with threats if his car comes back in less than pristine fashion, there'll be trouble.
Using the inbuilt sat nav in the Maserati, Sheehan's character Falco, heads up to this really big and expensive house built on the side of a hill, where nearly every part of the house is worked remotely by a click of a button operated by a mobile phone app. You've seen them, right, those setting the Hive timer for the heating. Putting on the kettle so it's hot for a cuppa when you get in? Checking who is ringing your door bell or sneaking a peak through your windows?
When Falco arrives at the house, the car operates the controls for the garage and in he drives. Once in, he's got the run of the house, except for the locked room. Falco finds a letter for a new credit card on the bedside table, and activates it. It's a black credit card, which I’m assuming would buy him everything he would ever want, and more.
This house is all about minimalistic value. There are obvious signs of wealth but as far as living there, it's more of a single person's abode who has little interest in dust collecting items on shelves. So, no good for me.
The film so far is, as Tony remarks,
completely pedestrian. Until we reach the locked door.
When Falco finally opens it, he finds an office in darkness, but a computer screen lit up, and takes a seat beside it. But when he looks up from the screen, he sees something across the room that shakes him to his very bones.
Chained up and gagged, in a chair facing the monitor is a young woman, who has been there for some time, given the marks on her body and face. Releasing her from her bonds however, is another problem that unfortunately he doesn't have time for. Cale needs his car back, and he's checking his phone to see that everything is how it should be in the house, not a thing out of place.
When Falco later calls the police about the woman in the house, Cale is one step ahead. From here on in, it's all goes abbbbsolutely tonto!
It's brilliant casting and Tennant plays a bad guy as if he was born for the part. In fact, there's something to be said about Tennant's characters, from Des, Barty Crouch Jr, and his character in Jessica Jones. He just really plays a blinder. The anger and rage behind each and every scene when Cale begins to lose control is frightening, and his despicable acts of violence against the young Riley Seabrook is chillingly brutal.
Falco is under his skin. He is everywhere, determined to find the woman he found chained in the office, but every time he gets close, he's always two steps further away. Then Cale starts dismantling Falco's life, piece by piece.
So now, it’s personal.
Sheehan often plays characters who you never really, completely gel with, but Falco has to be the best role I've seen him in since perhaps, The Umbrella Academy or Geostorm. You can't help but root for him.
Tennant is awesome as Cale Erendreich whose backstory we learn about as the film unfolds. He's cold. Fierce. Likes to be in control. And he's not scared about beating a young person senseless and throwing them down the stairs, to make a point.
There is a moment at the end though, where he reminds me of Barty Crouch Jr, be sure to look out for that. You can't miss it really. In that chair.
Bad Samaritan was written by actor and writer Brandon Boyce, who also plays the FBI Supervisor in this.
Dean Devlin directed the film. His list of credits is amazing and perhaps not surprising that Robert Sheehan played a role in this, considering Devlin was the writer of Geostorm - in which Robert played the bad guy.
Bad Samaritan was nominated for the Saturn Award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Film, USA in 2019 for Best Thriller Film.
You can find Bad Samaritan on Amazon
Prime. Book yourself a seat on the sofa for 1hr 50 mins. Bring provisions. Get
comfy and strap yourself in. You're in for one hell of a ride.
Credit
Special thanks to Tony J Fyler for heading quote.
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