No Good Deed - Idris is worth so much more

Idris Elba.  Arguably one of the coolest actors around right now.  He can pretty much carry any part given to him.  Yes, I’m a fan.  And, as I expected of him, he’s damn good here too.  Unfortunately, one great actor does not make up for a film which is short on originality.

Elba plays ‘Colin.’ A psychopath.  Okay, so that’s a generalisation.  The early part of the film touches on his exact condition.  However, he kills people, so ‘psychopath’ will work for me.  And, he plays it pretty well, flitting between his natural charm and dangerous ability to bludgeon someone to death if he so feels inclined.

But, luckily for Joe Public, he’s been caught and imprisoned.  Of course the film would be a lot less dull if he didn’t escape pretty quickly and resume his terrorising.  So, he does this and seeks refuge in a woman’s home, pretending that his car has broken down.  Of course she succumbs to his charm and lets him in, but, again, things never stay that way for long.  What follows is a typical ‘cat and mouse’ kind of game with her doing her best to survive in her own home.  I should just point out that she can’t just escape at the earliest opportunity, as she has children.

I have no problem with the plot.  Yes, it could probably be a little more original, but I could still live with that.  Or I could if it wasn’t for the fact that it uses the same cliché over and over again (normally found in ‘slasher’ films).  Three times (yes, I counted) in the space of about ten minutes does she totally get the drop on Elba and whack him with a fire extinguisher/lamp-thing/knife, only to run off instead of finishing him off.  I know this kind of movie-gripe has been going on for years and, yes, I know if she killed him at the earliest opportunity it would be a pretty short film, but still... that lack of realism/originality just got to me after a while.  Elba isn’t supposed to be a monster or superhuman, yet he gets up from every blow and just chases after her – again, without killing her either due to ending the film early.

Ultimately, you can’t fault the performances, both Elba and his victim do all they can with what’s been given to them.  It’s just a shame the ‘vehicle’ they’re in is a little bit on the stale side.  I guess if you’re not into slasher films you may not notice it quite so much, but, for me, it just bugged me to the point where I found it hard to carry on watching.

For die-hard Elba fans or casual viewers of the ‘stalker/thriller’ genre only.

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back