“The Bad Samaritan” was a thriller/mystery that was released in 2018. This movie follows two young valets (Sean Falco played by Robert Sheehan and Derek Sandoval played by ) who uses their car service to rob the car owner’s homes. While in the middle of a heist at a millionaire’s home (Cale Erendreich), Sean discovers a girl who is being held against her will. The movie follows Sean and Derek on their journey to prove that Cale is keeping the girl hostage. While they are trying to prove him guilty, Cale strikes back violently to protect himself and destroy Sean and Derek’s will to fight. This movie was a great addition to a wide genre.

Once large part of this movie was the appearance of the kidnapping and abusing of the woman. This topic seemed significant especially in the day and age that it was released. 2018 had some of the largest and most significant sexual predator scandals including the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. “The Bad Samaritan” did a good job of portraying the situations of those in captivity. The movie did not belittle the situations and also avoided cliches. One thing that the movie did incredibly well with was avoiding the cliches that many thrillers use willingly. Since the premise of the movie was about Sean and his quest to prove Cale guilty, the movie didn’t focus heavily on the girl’s kidnapping. Most movies that I have watched in this genre would have focused more on the horror of her captivity than on the actual issue of Sean’s situation. The writers also did an amazing job on making sure that the situation that Sean was in was just as horrifying than the situation the girl was in. The writers were Dean Devlin (known for “Geostorm (2017)”, “Independence Day (1996)”, and “Godzilla (1998)”), Brandon Boyce (known for “Apt Pupil (1998)”, “Wicker Park (2004)”, and “Milk (2008)”), and David Tennant (known for acting in “Doctor Who (2005-)”, “Jessica Jones (2015-)”, and writing “Scrubs (2007-2009)”).

The plot that the writers created was one that has not ben seen much in the genre previously. The plot was primarily focused on the issues with the main character and did not have as much focus on the ‘scarier’ part of the story. By doing this the writers were better able to create a story focused around Sean and Cale’s interactions and less on Cale’s past and insanity. As mentioned earlier, it would have been quite easy for the writers to focus more on the kidnapping than on Sean. Another thing that the plot helped with was pacing. The movie was paced slowly at the beginning and then increased in speed as more suspense was added to the plot. The suspense was created around Sean and had a psychopathic twist to it that was refreshing. It was not a slasher and gore filled movie, it was more of a mind game based movie.

The acting in the movie added another layer of depth. David Tennant who played Cale Erendreich was one of the notable actors. Cale was the psychopath and was very convincing throughout the movie. One of the performances that David Tennant is most known for is his role in “Doctor Who” as the tenth doctor. In that show he was playing a lovable and funny character that is beloved by all watchers of the show. His acting took a complete spin with his role in “The Bad Samaritan”. The things that he did in the movie that were supposed to show off his insanity were extremely convincing. His role in the movie was disturbing with how well he pulled it off. His role was central to the movie and he didn’t disappoint.

“The Bad Samaritan” was a great thriller and a movie that all fans of the genre should watch. It was both parts entertaining and disturbing, just like all great thriller movies should be. 5/5 stars.