Samaritan follows Sam, a 13-year-old kid who believes that the superhero Samaritan who was presumed to be dead 25 years ago still lives.
Samaritan features Sylvester Stallone as the eponymous superhero Samaritan with Javon Walton playing a 13-year-old die-hard fan of the superhero. Game of Thrones fame Pilou Asbæk plays the main antagonist in the movie as Cyrus, a powerful gangster who admires Samaritan’s evil twin brother Nemesis.
The direction is handled by Julius Avery, known for the 2014 thriller Son of a Gun. Along with playing the titular role, Sylvester Stallone produced the movie under Balboa Productions.
Samaritan Story Summary
Samaritan and Nemesis were twin brothers who had superhuman abilities. When Nemesis and Samaritan’s parents were killed in a murder attempt directed at the two by the residents of Granite City, Nemesis chose the path of revenge whereas Samaritan grew to become a protector.
However, when Samaritan tried to stop Nemesis from employing his evil intentions, they both die in the fight that follows. At least, that’s how the story goes.
But Sam (Javon Walton), a 13-year-old who lives with his mother, believes that Samaritan is very much alive. At times when Sam is not busy fanboying for Samaritan, he helps his friend steal cans from local shopkeepers because of the economic condition.
When Sam comes across Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), a powerful gangster in the city, he leaves Cyrus impressed with his honesty. However, Cyrus, unlike Sam, believes in Nemesis, who took matters into his own hands when the authorities failed the downtrodden. With unemployment at its peak, Granite City has definitely seen better days.
Sam’s beliefs about Samaritan being alive are cemented when he’s rescued by Joe Smith (Sylvester Stallone), an old man who lives in the building next to Sam. Displaying superhuman ability, Joe beats up Reza, one of Cyrus’ guys who’s been bothering Sam.
Confirming his suspicions after breaking into Joe’s house, Sam approaches a local journalist Albert Casler who also believes that Samaritan is alive. Casler informs Sam that the authorities found Nemesis’ hammer, the only weapon that can scar either Nemesis or Samaritan, at the death site. He further shares his theory that Nemesis tried to lure Samaritan with the intention to kill him and send the city into chaos before the plan went wrong.
Sam shares the information he has on Samaritan with Albert. However, Albert isn’t convinced that Samaritan could be the garbage man who lives next to Sam.
On the other hand, Cyrus breaks into a military facility and gets his hand on the really powerful hammer of Nemesis that has been under safekeeping for all these years. He plans to take forward Nemesis’ mission – to lead the city into chaos and take the power out of the hands of the exploiters.
In a bid to find more evidence, Sam breaks into Joe’s house and finds a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings about Samaritan. He takes the scrapbook with him but doesn’t keep it for long as Joe returns to take the scrapbook back. Upon being questioned, Joe tells Sam that he’s just a fan like Sam.
Sam’s suspicions about Joe being Samaritan are confirmed when Joe comes back alive unharmed after being hit by a car by Reza and his friends. Apparently, when Samaritan gets hurt, his body heats up, and he must cool it down immediately to stop his heart from exploding. Knowing he has failed to keep his identity a secret from Sam, Joe finally gives up.
Meanwhile, Cyrus takes over the city wearing a nemesis mask and intends to start a revolution of the people. As rioting happens across Granite City, Joe shares how he doesn’t believe that any hero can help people get rid of their problems.
Winning Joe’s trust, Sam asks him about Nemesis and puts Albert’s theory about Nemesis’ true intention the night Nemesis died in front of Joe. However, Joe dismisses the theory angrily.
Later, Cyrus asks Sam to join the gang, and Sam willingly obliges the request. However, Sam quickly realizes that Cyrus is not whom he thought to be when he witnesses Cyrus killing a police officer and hears about his plan to sabotage the power station.
Soon after, Reza and his friends beat up Sam badly when Sam tries to interfere with Reza manhandling another kid.
Joe takes Sam to the hospital, but Reza brings the matter to Cyrus’ attention when he sees Joe is perfectly fine after being hit by his car. Cyrus sends his men to bring Joe, but Joe’s cover is blown when a small kid sees him beating multiple men alone. A crowd gathers and the return of Samaritan makes it to the news.
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Samaritan Ending Explained
When Joe was packing his bags to leave, Sam comes and requests Joe to stay and help the people as Cyrus is planning something big at the power station. Joe dismissed him by asking him to go to the police instead.
Upon hearing the news of Samaritan’s return, Cyrus heads to find Joe. When he doesn’t find Joe, Cyrus takes Sam with him in hopes that Samaritan will come looking for Sam.
Joe returns from the train station to find that Cyrus has taken Sam with him. He confronts Cyrus and asks him to let Sam go before they fight.
Wanting to make Sam witness his hero Samaritan fall, Cyrus starts beating Joe with the hammer of Nemesis until Joe attacks back and reveals that he’s not the good guy everyone thinks he is. It’s revealed that Samaritan died 25 years ago while Nemesis was the one who survived. Joe is the brother of Samaritan, Nemesis – the true owner of the hammer.
Taking back his hammer, Nemesis defends himself against hordes of Cyrus’ men. Meanwhile, Cyrus decides to put his plan into action and sends the whole city into darkness by shutting the powerhouse and inciting a riot.
Is Nemesis alive?
While Joe tries to rescue Sam, Cyrus gets his hand on the hammer again. Being hit by the hammer, Joe tries to control his beating heart which could explode if he gets heated up too much. Joe and Cyrus fight amidst a burning building while Sam looks on helplessly.
In the end, Joe throws Cyrus into the flames just like he threw his brother down 25 years back and had a change of heart. However, Joe falls on his back as his heart starts getting heated up.
Thanks to Sam, Joe comes back to life after a brief moment of unconsciousness as Sam throws water on Joe to cool him down.
Confirming that he is indeed Nemesis, Joe places his trust in Sam to make the right choice between good and bad as both sides are part of the same heart. Joe vanishes into the crowd quickly after.
When Sam is rescued by the firefighters, he tells the media that Samaritan is indeed back and keeps Joe’s identity a secret.
The crowd stands by as patient listeners while Sam narrates the awesome story of how he was rescued by none other than the Samaritan himself.
Samaritan is now streaming on Prime Video.
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