No Good Deed
DIRECTOR: Sam Miller, WRITTEN BY: Aimee Lagos, STARRING: Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba, RUN TIME: 84 minutes, RELEASE: 2014
Terri (Taraji P. Henson), a devoted wife and mother of two, lives an ideal life that takes a dramatic turn when her home and children are threatened by Colin (Idris Elba), a charming stranger who smooth-talks his way into her house, claiming car trouble. The unexpected invitation leaves her and her family terrorized and fighting for survival.
'No Good Deed' is directed by Sam Miller whose previous directorial credits include: 'Luther', 'The Fixer' and 'Waking the Dead', among others. Anyone that has any of these would probably agree that they are some of the best hard-hitting British dramas to grace our screens in recent years. In that regard, Miller seems like a good choice to helm this home invasion thriller. Joining him and taking mantle of the scriptwriter is American writer/producer/director, Aimee Lagos, whose only other writing credits consist of '96 Minutes' (2011) and 2003 short, 'Underground'. None of which I have seen, so I didn't really know what to expect from her. Also, with an amazing lead cast in the form of the multi-talented Idris Elba and the wonderful Taraji P. Henson, 'No Good Deed' had all the ingredients of being one of my favourite home invasion films.
Sadly, somewhere along the cooking stage the ingredients got badly mismeasured. For a short film (at only 84 minutes long) it seemed to drag on quite a bit. I sat there throughout most of it desperately waiting for the madness to happen and for the whole thing to descend into tension filled terror. However, all it really ever achieved was to provide me with lots of wasted viewing moments and the desire to wind it up a little faster. There was so much more that could have been done with it but, it just fell horribly flat and watered down. Sad, because it actually started off pretty good. I really thought that it was headed in a satisfactory direction. However, those thoughts were quickly nullified. It dragged its heals from start to finish with no inspiring content to fill it.
The plot was stacked to the brim with clichés, implausible rubbish, token scares and dumb decisions that had me shaking my head and talking at the character's on so many occasions. Am I really supposed to believe that an ex District Attorney that specializes in cases involving battered women (convenient considering Colin's crimes) would let a complete stranger into the house (who uses the most over-used fake story ever) that she shares with her small young children? On top of that, partake in some blatant flirting with this complete stranger that she was, very briefly, cautious about letting in, in the first place? I mean come on, at least try to make it the slightest bit believable. Perhaps promoting your ample cleavage for said 'complete stranger' is also not the best course of action. Just saying.
'No Good Deed' is the perfect example of how to waste phenomenal acting talent. Idris Elba is fantastic, there is no doubt about that. He is a brilliantly high quality actor and I do love to watch him work. That being said, he is only as good as the lazy writing allows. He could have been so much better had he a decent script to work with. However, he still manages to make Colin a formidable and intimidating character. Entirely a credit to his boundless acting skills. His is not the biggest crime though. The award for 'shocking waste of talent' easily goes to Taraji P. Henson. Henson is such a fabulous actress but, she is never given the chance to shine. Instead, she is forced to play the role of the damsel in distress that runs away a lot and occasionally gets a bit of a fight in.
Having seen many home invasion films, I must say, this is by far one of the weakest that I have had the displeasure of viewing. To look at the trailer, it looks pretty amazing but, the trailer is about as amazing as it ever gets. It’s uninspired. Lazy, dull, poorly written, thrill-free and completely uneventful. What a terrible disappointment. If you're looking for a great home invasion film then I suggest you watch French thriller, 'Them' (2006), to see how it should be done and give this one a wide berth.