Sylvester Stallone plays a garbage man with a secret in our first look at a different kind of superhero movie from Overlord director Julius Avery. The former good Samaritan has been retired and in hiding for 25 years before his true identity is discovered by a local neighbourhood kid. The action movie comes to Prime Video on August 26.
Wanna Walton, who plays Ashtray in Euphoria, plays the kid who tries to lure Stallone’s Joe Smith out of retirement. Danish actor Pilou Asbaek plays the villain – Cyrus – who wants Smith dead. The action movie also stars Martin Starr, Dascha Polanco, and Moises Arias.
The trailer begins with Smith saving Walton’s Sam from a gang of bullies, and Sam immediately begins to suspect Smith’s real identity. Sam then witnesses Smith being hit by a car and making a miraculous recovery. He asks Samaritan why he hates who he is and the former hero replies; “for some people, it’s too late to change the damage they’ve done.” The city appears to be experiencing a crime wave for some reason and so Smith is drawn back out.
Stallone has been using his age well in recent roles, including Creed and Expendables, which all have a meta layer acknowledging Stallone’s position as an aging action star. Stallone will controversially not be appearing in Creed III, directed by Michael B. Jordan and co-starring Jonathan Majors.
You can watch Stallone’s aging superhero in the Samaritan trailer below;
Avery is an emerging filmmaker with only two features behind him 2014’s Son of a Gun starring Ewan McGregor, and 2018’s Overlord – which starred Wyatt Russell and combined World War Two with zombies. His next movie after Samaritan will be The Pope’s Exorcist, starring Russell Crowe.
While we wait for the release of Samaritan, check out our guide to the best action movies.