The official trailer for The Samaritan, starring Sylvester Stallone, has been revealed, and it looks like another surprisingly good superhero offering from Amazon Studios.
Released on Wednesday, July 27, the first Prime Video movie trailer asks a simple question: what if Rocky Balboa, aka the legendary boxer Stallone played for nearly 50 years, had superpowers?
Graphic? You should be. The next superhero movie looks like Rocky, Logan, Breakout, and Superman all rolled into one. So Prime Video subscribers will want to add this movie to their watchlist ahead of its release on August 26.
Take a look at the official trailer for Samaritan below:
Based on the comic book series of the same name by Bragi F Schut, Marc Olivent and Renzo Podesta, Samaritan stars Stallone as Mr. Smith, a reclusive elderly citizen of Granite City and neighbor to teenager Sam Cleary (Euphoria and The Umbrella). Academy's Javon 'I want' Walton). One day, when Sam is attacked on his way home from school, Smith steps in to save the day and, to the shock of Sam and his attackers, displays superhuman abilities.
Putting two and two together, Sam realizes that his savior is none other than Samaritan, a superhero who would have perished in a titanic and fierce battle with his rival Nemesis 25 years earlier. Smith has kept a low profile ever since, and despite a rise in criminal activity in the three decades since he faked his own death, Smith refuses to accept his superhero role again. So it's up to Sam to bring Samaritan out of retirement from him and save a town on the brink of chaos.
Based on its trailer, Samaritan appears to be a far cry from Prime Video's other superhero offerings. The Boys and Invincible, two of Prime Video's best shows, are jewels in Amazon's streaming crown, despite having harsh R ratings.
By contrast, Samaritan seems to be touring the lines of a PG-13 film (it's rated 12 in the UK), which would put it in line with similarly rated superhero movies, including every Marvel movie to date and most Batman movies. Samaritan's realistic, real-world aesthetic is sure to draw comparisons to other non-Marvel or DC films such as Unbreakable and Chronicle, while its locations and settings have the look and feel of the budget on a smaller scale than seen in the first Rocky. films. Given its story of "a lone superhero meets starry-eyed youth," Samaritan seems to be taking inspiration from another 2017 superhero movie, Logan, though it's sure to sidestep the adult content featured in that movie.
Samaritan's supporting cast includes Game of Thrones alum Pilou Asbaek, Spider-Man: No Way Home's Martin Starr, In The Heights' Dascha Polanco and Riverdale's Sophia Tatum. The screenplay for the film adaptation was written by Samaritan co-creator Schut, with Julius Avery (Overlord, Son of a Gun) directing. Stallone and Braden Aftergood (Nobody, Hell or High Water) are among the producers of Samaritan.
After several delays due to the pandemic, Samaritan will be released on Prime Video worldwide on Friday, August 26.
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