jtindahouse 'No Good Deed' starts out with a bit of a bang. The violence levels in the first 5-10 minutes, at a level rarely seen these days in your average thriller, set up the movie perfectly to be something great. Sadly after that the movie falls flat and can't capitalise on the great start it had and thus a great opportunity is missed. Ultra-violent characters can be a lot of fun, Wesney Snipes character in 'Demolition Man' comes to mind, and I thought that we may have had another one like that one on our hands, but sadly Idris Elba's character in this isn't a lot of fun at all.The whole movie just comes across a bit bleak. The characters are all so unappealing that it's hard to care about any of their fates, the unbelievability of any scene involving a police officer is highly off putting and the 'twist' near the end isn't even worthy of giving a second thought to. The usual poor writing involving characters being absolutely idiotic is there as well. All that said it's far from unwatchable, it just does nothing to stand out from the pack.

Bryan Kluger With such a stellar cast, a good filmmaker, and a trailer that was scary, thrilling, and fun, I thought that 'No Good Deed' would be one of my favorite films of the year. I couldn't be more wrong. If you saw the amazing trailer to this film, you might have thought that it looked great and that someone finally had the amazing Idris Elba play a sadistic bad guy who is terrorizing a woman and her children. It had a lot of promise and potential based on that trailer alone. And since the film had Elba play a bad guy who seemed to be terrorizing a woman in her own home, I secretly wanted a 'Home Alone' type of ending with Idris getting attacked by all sorts of boobytraps. I know that wasn't going to be case, but if it was, I certainly would have enjoyed it.Directed by Sam Miller, who directed several episodes of 'Luther' with Idris, 'No Good Deed' has no mind or soul of its own, even though it looks visually pleasing and has a commanding lead. This PG-13 thriller fails to really show any real suspense or twist that we can't see coming a mile away. It's sad really, because this could have been one of the more thrilling and scarier films this year. But unfortunately, it's a film that will be swept under the rug after its first viewing. Idris plays a man named Colin Evans who has been in prison for five years for manslaughter, and is also a suspect in five murders, all of whom are women.He is denied parole and in this scene, we see Idris's talent come full force as he plays a man who is regretful of his actions and sincere, while still holding that mysterious and sadistic side we see later on in the movie. It's a perfectly tuned role that Idris has knocked out of the park. On the way back to jail, Colin gets a hold of a gun, shoots the police officer and driver, and escapes. Colin has a pit stop to make, which comes to play later on in the film, which I won't spoil for you, but he eventually ends up at Terry's (Taraji P. Henson) house with her young daughter and new toddler. Terry has her friend Meg (Leslie Bibb) coming over for a girl's night, since Terry's husband left on a work trip. Colin, who had just been in an automobile accident rings Terry's doorbell and asks for help.Being involved in an aspect of the law for her job, focusing on abuse and violence, it's hard to realize that she would let a complete stranger in, but she does, and our movie takes off. Colin seems alright at first, but Terry soon discovers the monster he really is as she tries several escape attempts, but all prove unsuccessful. This all leads to a big plot twist reveal at the end of the film, which gives our characters somewhat of a background and reason for this film actually being made. But the thing about it that doesn't work is that we've seen these usual genre tropes and actions a thousand times before in other films, which takes us out of the movie completely and makes us think of the other better movie that did things right.I do think Henson did an outstanding job as the mother protecting her kids from a mad man, but the shining star here is Idris Elba. He really keeps this moving flowing with every scene he's in. And even though he's the bad guy, each scene without him in it, you're wishing he was on screen. 'No Good Deed' missed the mark by a long shot and came across as silly and dull, when it could have been something much better. But at least we get to see Idris scare the living day lights out of us, right?

Prismark10 No Good Deed reunites Idris Elba with his director from the Luther mini series Sam Miller. Now Luther when it was first shown on UK television was a middling, slightly bonkers and implausible thriller. When it returned for a second series they ramped at the bonkers part and made it more frightening and Luther became a runaway hit.I think trying to transplant the formula in No Good Deed has led to this dud. Elba plays Colin a killer who escapes while being transported from his parole hearing.He first gets his revenge on his ex-girlfriend and then he crashes his car and ends up in the home of Terri played by Taraji Henson. She is a wife (maybe not happily married) and mother all alone and Colin charms his way into the house but then starts to act creepy especially when a friend of Terri arrives at the house who senses something is not quite right with Colin.The film has a great opening scene, you think Colin is a reformed man worthy of a second chance until at the parole hearing he is systematically broken down as a narcissistic psychopath.However you are left wondering what is his motive after that. Why is he loitering around Terri's house and not making good his escape? What is the point in terrorizing Terri and her family? There is a twist and you later realise that this was no random encounterAs a thriller it comes across as half baked because its not well plotted. I felt the cast was left floundering in trying to make sense of a badly written film which lacked guile, invention and thrills.

klamut1960 Idris Elba is outstanding as Colin, an escaped convict who shows up at the door of Terry, a perfect wife and mother, (well played by Taraji P Henson) on a stormy night following a car accident. He is a charming sociopath and she is a lonely, neglected wife whose husband is on a weekend trip. We feel the tension from the moment they meet - the actors have true chemistry which only raises the level of suspense and keeps you watching. He senses that she's vulnerable - she's alone during a storm with two small children and he knows just what buttons to push. Leslie Bibb is also excellent in her role as Meg, Terry's longtime best friend who immediately senses that all is not what it seems when she comes over for a planned girls night. We don't see much of Terry's husband Jeffrey, but Henry Simmons does a good job playing the indifferent and arrogant spouse who can't wait to leave the house for a golf weekend with his Dad. We see right away that Terry gets very little attention and longs to be appreciated, which are qualities that make her vulnerable to Colin's attention. I don't understand the negative reviews - this is a nicely acted, suspenseful thriller with a great twist at the end. If you have 90 minutes or so to sit down and be entertained, I highly recommend this movie.