No Good Deed

Finally! A new release that's actually worth seeing. Being such a huge Idris Elba fan, I knew I had to go opening night. I saw the trailer a few weeks ago and I honestly thought this would be complete shit (however I knew Idris would be great). Boy was I wrong!

No Good Deed is about a convicted murderer named Colin Evans (Idris Elba), who escapes after being denied parole. He then goes to the home of Terri (Taraji P. Henson), a mother with two young children, after his car goes off the road. He claims that he needs to use her phone to call a tow truck. She lets him and eventually invites him into her house. While this whole scene was playing out, I felt like screaming at the screen, "You dumb bitch! What the hell are you thinking?!?" Although I admit, if Idris Elba showed up on my doorstep I'd probably invite him in too. Anyway, Terri soon realizes her mistake as Colin begins to terrorize her and her family. I wish I could tell you more, but then I would be giving too much away.

The movie is directed by Sam Miller. He had previously directed some episodes of Luther, which explains Idris Elba's involvement in this. What I love about what he did here was he really set the tone and made it feel creepy. Everything from the way the movie was filmed, edited, and even the music had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. It reminded me very much of those thriller movies I grew up watching in the 90's. The movie is not without its flaws of course. There are a couple of typical cliches that are common in movies like this as well as some laughably bad moments. But it was nothing that took me out of the movie for very long.

Idris Elba... wow!! I'll admit it was a little weird seeing him play a villain at first. But after a few minutes I got use to it and was amazed at his brilliant performance. The man can do anything. He could sit in front of a camera for two hours doing absolutely nothing and I'd pay money to see it. Here he plays the part of a charming psychopath very well.

From what I've heard, the press screenings for No Good Deed were canceled due to the studio not wanting the big twist at the end to be leaked. All I'll say about the twist is while I don't think it was as amazing as some have claimed (I kind of had a feeling where it was all going early on), it was still a great moment and had everyone in the theater I was in gasping.

While I can see why some people may not like it, I think No Good Deed has something for everyone. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of thrillers or of Idris Elba.

My Rating: 8/10