Sometime in between playing his pivotal role as Nick Fury in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, starring as Martin Luther King, Jr. on Broadway, and gearing up for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Samuel L. Jackson decided to star in and executive produce this little noir-ish exercise from Canadian director David Weaver. It’s difficult to understand why, because with the exception of one especially shocking plot twist about an hour in, there’s nothing in this film that hasn’t been done at least ten-thousand times previously—and at least nine-thousand of those films did it better…

The Samaritan is playing now in limited release. You can read my full review at Film Journal International.