By Marci Kiszkiel
Entertainment Editor
I didn’t enter the theatre with very high expectations for Sam Miller’s No Good Deed. Despite a promising cast composed of Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, commercials for the film led to me believe I was in for another horror film that relied entirely on jump-scares to entice viewers, with the moral of the story being “don’t talk to strangers.”
My pessimism was only partially justified. While the film itself wasn’t incredibly compelling, and the jump-scares were awfully predictable, the performances of the film were, as expected, incredibly well done.
The film begins by introducing us to Idris Elba as Colin, a manipulative and destructive convict who’s been in prison for five years after being convicted of manslaughter and suspected of being the cause of five women’s’ disappearances.
Colin attempts to persuade a board of judges into allowing him parole, much to the dismay of the five missing woman’s’ families standing outside the courtroom. However, when Colin is denied the possibility of parole, he successfully escapes the prison van that would take him back to prison. He then embarks on the road that would soon lead to the front doorstep of the female protagonist, Terri.
Elba’s portrayal of the twisted and destructive mind of Colin was absolutely captivating, and watching him interact with others and react to situations around him was much more interesting than the plot itself. Elba was able to portray the complex mind of Colin in a way that leaves viewers unable to simply call him “crazy.”
Of course, Elba’s wasn’t the only character that made the movie watchable. Henson’s character, Terri, starts off as a simple mother of two and wife to Jeffrey, a lawyer who tends to distance himself from his family. Terri struggles to find time for herself as her husband focuses primarily on his career and the children are often left in her care.
On the night of Colin’s escape, Terri finds herself home alone with her children as Jeffrey leaves for the night to go on a golfing trip with his father. Which leads to the generic horror movie set-up of the protagonist being home alone and finding their small-town home invaded by a terror like no other.
However, Terri is not your average horror-flick protagonist. She’s incredibly intelligent compared to what we’ve seen in the past, and even has a past in dealing with the criminally insane. As Colin begins to terrorize Terri and her family, she is shown multiple times physically attacking him and plotting against his plan to bring them into harm’s way.
Unfortunately, these actors’ performances are wasted on a less-than perfect film. While Colin’s super-human abilities of being able to go hours without being affected by a fatal stab wound and multiple blows to the head are certainly interesting, it wasn’t enough to make up for the cliche plot.
As I suspected, the film did rely primarily on jump-scares and the assumption that the viewer would be terrified of having their home invaded in the middle of the night. The supposed twist at the end of the film also isn’t as hype-worthy as the commercials will lead you to believe.
Still, the very ending of the film is incredibly satisfying and the moral of the story turns out to be about overcoming anything and everything, rather than my original prediction. Fellow horror-junkies will be less than satisfied with the story itself, but psychological thriller fans will be blown away by the performance of the cast.