Bad Samaritan
United States: 2018
Original title : –
Director: Dean Devlin
Screenplay: Brandon Boyce
Actors: David Tennant, Robert Sheehan, Kerry Condon
Publisher: ACE Entertainment
Duration: 1h46
Genre: Thriller
DVD/BR release date: December 7, 2022
Sean Falco does not live from his passion for photography but works as a valet for a fancy restaurant, with his friend Derek. The two acolytes take advantage of their position to identify wealthy clients and rob their homes while they are seated. This is how Sean enters the home of Cale Erendreich, where he discovers with amazement Katie, a kidnapped and gagged woman. Panicked, the young man fled but informed the police, who found no trace of the young woman. For his part, Cale Erendreich is determined to make Sean pay dearly for his break-in…
The film
[3/5]
The chance of video releases recently led us to briefly discuss the career of Dean Devlin, who played in Moon 44but who is best known for having worked as screenwriter and producer for Roland Emmerich throughout the 90s. However, if Dean Devlin interests us today, it is not in connection with his acting activities , screenwriter or producer, but indeed director – he is indeed the director of Bad Samaritanwhich arrives today on video under the colors of ACE Entertainment.
Pure little Saturday night DTV, Bad Samaritan follows a little game of cat and mouse between a small-time burglar (Robert Sheehan) and a rich psychopath (David Tennant) whose hobby is to sequester and then kill young women. This is a fairly simple and linear genre film, but which allows David Tennant to feast on playing trash: it is mainly his performance that will make the price of Dean Devlin’s film, and will allow the viewer to be held in suspense throughout the course of the plot.
Bad Samaritan therefore starts from a rather original premise: Sean (Robert Sheehan) works as a valet at night in front of a restaurant in Portland. Along with his friend Derek (Carlito Olivero), they regularly rob the homes of people who have entrusted their keys and vehicles to them. To avoid being detected, they steal objects of modest value hoping that their victims do not even notice that they have been robbed. One evening, Sean breaks into Cale Erendreich (David Tennant), an obnoxious businessman, but finds himself face to face with a kidnapped, bloodied and tightly strapped girl on a chair screwed into the floor. Sean flees before he can free her and warns the police, but leaves behind some traces that will allow the psychopath not only to destroy Sean’s life, but also all those who are dear to him…
Without a doubt, Dean Devlin is fascinated by this villain character embodied by an inhabited David Tennant, who carries at arm’s length Bad Samaritan. The film doesn’t cut corners, Brandon Boyce’s script is quite direct, but has enough action, psychological intensity and even paranoia in store for the film to take us with it without too much trouble. David Tennant’s class has a lot to do with it, especially since he always seems to be several steps ahead of poor Sean, camped in a relatively solid way by the almost unknown Robert Sheehan (Umbrella Academy). As often when it comes to a film featuring a rich killer, his social status protects him from all suspicion.
Sure, Bad Samaritan has a few flaws, including a small “soft underbelly” in its central part, which sees Sean pleading his case with the authorities and Erendreich trying to cover his tracks and continue to pressure his victim. But Dean Devlin finally manages to raise the bar just before the last act of his film, and to reinject a little energy and pep’s pile when the plot needed it. Generally, Bad Samaritan therefore rather keeps a good pace, and proves to be sufficiently well put together and interesting to keep the viewer’s interest awake.
The Blu-ray
[4/5]
It is therefore ACE Entertainment which invites us today to discover Bad Samaritan in Blu-ray format. The film displays on Blu-ray format all the detail and depth that one could expect. The sharpness is precise, the colors literally explode… Only the contrasts lack a little assertiveness in certain scenes, and we can also note some occasional tingling in the backgrounds, but overall, the presentation of the film is really perfect , and this despite encoding in 1080i (25 frames / second) which reduces its duration from 1h50 to 1h46. On the sound side, a festival of dynamism is on the program, with two mixes DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (VF/VO) which literally sends some in all the corners; the rear stage and the subwoofer are extremely busy: very nice work. In the bonus section, we will find the traditional trailer.
