The Samaritan

Director: David Weaver
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Luke Kirby, Ruth Negga
Time Out rating:
Japanese title: Confidence Man

Finally free after 25 years in the slammer, fabled grifter Foley (Samuel L Jackson) tries going straight, but he’s forced into a high-stakes con when the weaselly progeny of his old partner (Luke Kirby) blindsides him with a secret. No one expects a Samuel L Jackson thriller to be Shakespeare, but David Weaver’s wanna-be ’70s-grindhouse cheapie doesn’t even achieve serviceability. Jackson and Kirby do their spirited best to sell dialogue seemingly written in underlined all-caps, yet there’s no saving the film from an endless setup (a full hour passes before the big con even starts) and a clumsily choreographed, sub-soap-operatic payoff. Despite its exploitation ambitions, this Samaritan is good only for a last-ditch swerve into schmaltz.

The Samaritan opens nationwide on October 6