Action movie and comic book movie fans have been waiting for Sylvester Stallone to make his superhero debut in Samaritan. So, was it worth being so patient? Well, the first reviews for Samaritan are now in, and the consensus so far is a resounding...maybe. We shall begin with Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter, who found a lot to like from Stallone’s central performance — even if the rest of the movie doesn’t quite measure up.

“Stallone provides just the right amount of world-weary gravitas and deadpan humor to put over the hokey material.”

William Bibbiani of TheWrap is more positive in his response to the superhero stylings of Stallone, praising the project for bringing something new to the exhausted genre.

“Like an old hunk of junk fixed and cleaned up, and made into something new again, and worth paying full price for.”

Flickering Myth’s Robert Kojder felt similarly, commending Samaritan for its different perspective and ability to balance between grim-and-gritty and family adventure.

“It’s a hangout movie between a boy and a washed-up superhero, a reprieve from what the genre typically offers. Samaritan is not grim-dark, nor is it a straight-up kids’ movie; it’s somewhere in between with its unusual perspective and enjoyable.”

Alex Maidy from JoBlo found a lot to like about Samaritan, rating the movie a decent 7/10 and calling the superhero outing “a good action movie but a mediocre superhero tale.”

“Samaritan is a good action movie but a mediocre superhero tale. A different kind of origin story, this movie is a nice late-career performance from Sylvester Stallone that proves how much potential he had to lead a comic book franchise had this project come about twenty years ago.”

Variety’s Owen Gleiberman was somewhat less enamored with Samaritan, calling it “basic,” but does praise some of the movie’s elements; “Samaritan” is basic enough that it often seems like a video-game film in which someone forgot to add the CGI. But the movie builds to a very good twist, and Stallone, in his way, brings a vibe to it...”

Slashfilm’s Sarah Bea Milner, meanwhile, could not help but enjoy Samaritan’s B-movie flavor saying, “Samaritan is a B-movie with B-movie problems, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy watching it.”

Samaritan Lands on Prime Video Today

Of course, much like the good and evil of superhero stories, you cannot have the positive without the negative. And IGN’s Siddhant Adlakha is very much the latter, giving Samaritan a 4/10 and saying...

“Sylvester Stallone doesn’t seem thrilled to be playing a superhero in Samaritan, a hodgepodge of non-ideas borrowed from better movies.”

Empire’s John Nugent did compliment Stallone’s work but could not find a satisfactory reason for Samaritan to exist.

“In a crowded marketplace, new superhero movies need a lot to stand out; despite some solid work from Sylvester Stallone, it’s not really clear what Samaritan is bringing to the table.”

Finally, Benjamin Lee of the Guardian criticized the script for not giving Stallone enough to work with. Despite his best efforts.

“Stallone recycles the grizzled former fighter shtick from both Creed films but with far less of a dimension here, not a fault of his own exactly but one shared with Schut, whose puddle-shallow script doesn’t give him any real grit or gristle.”

Directed by Julius Avery and starring Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco, and Moises Arias, Samaritan follows thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary, who suspects that his mysterious and reclusive neighbor Mr. Smith is actually a legendary superhero hiding in plain sight.

Samaritan is available to stream from August 26, 2022, by United Artists Releasing and Amazon Studios via streaming on Prime Video.