Sylvester Stallone’s Overlooked Superhero Movie Is Flying Up The Streaming Charts
Sylvester Stallone's superhero feature, Samaritan, is currently #1 on Amazon Prime Video.
We love Sylvester Stallone for his roles in action features like Assassins and his current-running mafia-based series-turned-franchise Tulsa King, as well as his iconic painting career, but if you haven’t yet caught his superhero flick Samaritan, consider this as your push to do so. Now relishing in the #1 spot on Prime Video, where members can stream it for free, an underdog story that rivals Stallone’s turn as Rocky Balboa is drawing in fans by the droves. With a lineup that not only boasts Sylvester Stallone, but also Euphoria’s Javon “Wanna” Walton, Game of Thrones‘ Johan Philip “Pilou” Asbæk, Orange is the New Black’s Dascha Polanco, and Party Down’s Martin Starr, the action-packed feature is the perfect addition to your next non-DC or MCU superhero binge.
In Samaritan, Sylvester Stallone stars as innocuous neighbor Mr. Smith, a quiet and reclusive man with a dangerous secret. When his teenage neighbor Sam Cleary (Walton) begins to suspect that Mr. Smith may not be who he says he is and is, in fact, a butt-kicking, superhero vigilante who disappeared almost three decades ago, the young man attempts to befriend Mr. Smith and get him back into fighting-mode. With crime in Granite City on the rise, there’s only one hero who can step up to the plate and Sam thinks that he’s hiding behind the clever ruse of an unassuming neighbor.
The Sylvester Stallone-led superhero flick never boasted a theatrical premiere as it was backed by Prime Video and landed on Amazon’s streaming service at the tail end of the summer blockbuster season in August 2022. While fans may currently be sending Samaritan into the sky with viewership numbers, the film sits on Rotten Tomatoes with a 38% critics rating. Known for crafting some well-received action features, the film was helmed by Son of a Gun and Overlord director, Julius Avery, who will soon be back at it with the supernatural thriller, The Pope’s Exorcist.
One of the most familiar faces in Hollywood, Sylvester Stallone has been in the business of making blockbusters, specifically of the action-adventure variety, for decades. While he held several roles in features throughout the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, it was with his own penned Rocky through which the actor rose to prominence. Now, almost 50 years later, the story of the titular boxing underdog-turned-champion still lives on in the Ryan Coogler-helmed (Black Panther franchise) film series, Creed.
Although he won’t be reprising his role as the boxing legend in the upcoming Creed III, Sylvester Stallone’s name is still attached to the project as a producer in a film that will see Michael B. Jordan’s titular character faceoff against Jonathan Major’s bad guy. While Stallone won’t be spotted in the movie, fans can expect to see the Rambo star reprise his role as Stakar Ogord in the highly-anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Last, but certainly not least, Stallone will also soon be returning to the wild and explosion-filled world of Barney Ross for one last tango with danger in The Expendables 4.
