No Good Deed, film review: Sadistic and nonsensical

The film self-consciously invokes memories of thrillers like Cape Fear and The Desperate Hours, but has none of their guile

Geoffrey Macnab
Thursday 20 November 2014 18:56 GMT
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Elba stars as unstable escaped convict Colin Evans in 2014 thriller No Good Deed
Elba stars as unstable escaped convict Colin Evans in 2014 thriller No Good Deed (Rex Features)

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It is dismaying to see the brilliant Idris Elba and Sam Miller, his director from TV’s Luther, working on low-grade exploitation fare like this.

Elba plays a general all-round psychopath who escapes prison after being denied parole and eventually turns up on a stormy night at the door of young mum Terri Granger (Taraji P Henson). Slowly, we discover just why he is there. The film, sadistic and nonsensical by turns, self-consciously invokes memories of thrillers like Cape Fear and The Desperate Hours, but has none of their guile.

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