'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.

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.

No Good Deed is actually not a bad film as such, it sticks rigidly to a formula and has all the requisite requirements - however ridiculous - for a home invasion thriller, and does it competently. The problem is that it has absolutely nothing new to appeal to anyone who has been watching movies through the 80s and 90s.The 1990s was particularly a thriving hot-bed for such thriller fare, where some unhinged nut-case - male or female - would impose themselves upon some amiable good person's life, and then unleash mentally distorted hell upon them. Sam Miller's film is just a lazy retread of what has gone long before. Only he and his backers think that shifting the focus to black characters somehow makes it more vibrant. It doesn't.Idris Alba is a fine actor (in great physical shape as usual), and Taraji P. Henson is a more than effective actress, but the turgid screenplay on offer here does them no favours, where even an intended "big reveal" is hamstrung by the familiarity of it all. If one is fortunate to be of a youthful enough age and lucky enough to be viewing this thriller format for the first time? Then this works, it absolutely does. The more mature film lovers, however, will be jaded to the point of sleep status. And no, that's not meant to be patronising. 4/10

Idris Elba. Arguably one of the coolest actors around right now. He can pretty much carry any part given to him. Yes, I'm a fan. And, as I expected of him, he's damn good here too. Unfortunately, one great actor does not make up for a film which is short on originality.Elba plays 'Colin.' A psychopath. Okay, so that's a generalisation. The early part of the film touches on his exact condition. However, he kills people, so 'psychopath' will work for me. And, he plays it pretty well, flitting between his natural charm and dangerous ability to bludgeon someone to death if he so feels inclined.But, luckily for Joe Public, he's been caught and imprisoned. Of course the film would be a lot less dull if he didn't escape pretty quickly and resume his terrorising. So, he does this and seeks refuge in a woman's home, pretending that his car has broken down. Of course she succumbs to his charm and lets him in, but, again, things never stay that way for long. What follows is a typical 'cat and mouse' kind of game with her doing her best to survive in her own home. I should just point out that she can't just escape at the earliest opportunity, as she has children.I have no problem with the plot. Yes, it could probably be a little more original, but I could still live with that. Or I could if it wasn't for the fact that it uses the same cliché over and over again (normally found in 'slasher' films). Three times (yes, I counted) in the space of about ten minutes does she totally get the drop on Elba and whack him with a fire extinguisher/lamp-thing/knife, only to run off instead of finishing him off. I know this kind of movie-gripe has been going on for years and, yes, I know if she killed him at the earliest opportunity it would be a pretty short film, but still... that lack of realism/originality just got to me after a while. Elba isn't supposed to be a monster or superhuman, yet he gets up from every blow and just chases after her – again, without killing her either due to ending the film early.Ultimately, you can't fault the performances, both Elba and his victim do all they can with what's been given to them. It's just a shame the 'vehicle' they're in is a little bit on the stale side. I guess if you're not into slasher films you may not notice it quite so much, but, for me, it just bugged me to the point where I found it hard to carry on watching.For die-hard Elba fans or casual viewers of the 'stalker/thriller' genre only.