It’s nice every now and then to find a movie that isn’t
pretentious, trying to reinvent a genre of film by adding far too much to it to
even make it recognizable. The thriller genre has been through ups and downs
over the years with too much sex added ever since BASIC INSTINCT found its
niche market. So when an honest to goodness thriller without the overt
sexuality comes on the scene it’s worth noting. NO GOOD DEED is just that film.
Idris Elba plays Colin, a sociopath about to appear before
the parole board as the film opens. Suspected in the murder of five women and
tried only in a case of manslaughter for killing a man in a bar fight, he
explains how he’s reformed and helping other prisoners to read these days. One
member of the board has looked deeper into the case though and lets the rest
known what kind of con man the person before them can be. We get a glimpse of
that as Colin nearly loses his temper during the proceedings.
With the parole failed Colin escapes on the way back to
prison, killing both guards in the process. Shortly after that we see him
staling a woman in an open café and then following her home. It turns out to be
his ex-girlfriend. He confronts her about the man she was talking to and she
explains he is a friend and gay. Pressing the matter the two argue, she tells
him she has been with the man and in their bed and Colin kills her.
The story switches to Terry (Taraji P. Hensen), a young
housewife whose day consist of taking care of her pre-school age daughter and
baby. Her husband Jeffery is a successful lawyer but they rarely seem to have
time for one another these days. He stops at home on his way to a weekend away
for his father’s birthday. This leave Terry home alone and waiting for a night
with the girls involving her best friend Meg.
The night turns into a stormy one as Colin tries to continue
on his escape. An accident causes him to run off the road and nearly get
killed. Walking in the rain the first house he comes to belongs to Terry. He
knocks and asks if he can use her phone from the porch and she obliges,
eventually allowing him into the house after they converse for a bit. She
offers him dry clothes to wear while waiting on the tow truck he supposedly
called and patch up a wound on his head.
The movie progresses as Meg arrives and the three of them
carry on a conversation. But things begin to change and the role that Colin is
playing slowly unravels. Just what is in store for the two women and Terry’s
children is yet to be seen. Will this sociopath kill everyone in the house?
Will Jeffery return home early? Or will, as in most thrillers these days, Terry
seduce her captor to save her children? Well the best way to find out is to
watch this movie.
As I said the movie is a well-paced thriller that doesn’t
waste extra effort or time in giving far too much backstory here. At just under
90 minutes it’s the perfect amount of time for this story to be told. I’ve
often questioned if the classic films of the past could be told in under 90
minutes then why do movies these days have to come in over 2 hours? This movie
realizes up front that there’s no need for that and it still tells a decent
mystery with a fantastic twist you won’t see coming.
Both of the lead actors here, Elba and Hensen, do a wonderful
job of bringing their characters to life. Elba, who of late has been seen in
more hero styled lead roles, does a great job as the psychotic killer who knows
how to manipulate people. Hensen, who left TV’s PERSON OF INTEREST last year,
does a great job as a woman who had more control over her life as well as a
career in the past, only to find herself in the doldrums of being a housewife
now. But hers is also a protective mother character that will do anything to
keep her children safe.
When I saw the trailer for this in the theater and on
numerous DVDs I had no interest in watching it. I’d seen the formula time and
time again and expected the same thing here. I was pleasantly surprised to see
that it took that formula and added something fresh to it while returning back
to tried and true structures that haven’t been used in decades at the same
time. The end result is a solid thriller that holds you in its grip from start
to finish. It’s well worth a watch.
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