Everyone loves a good suspense movie. Unfortunately, “No Good Deed” does not deliver.
The film stars Idris Elba and Taraji Henson. It follows the story of a man (Elba) who has committed multiple murders, and a woman (Henson) whose faltering relationship with her husband gets her into a dangerous situation.
Evan Collins is a murderer looking for revenge on his wife who left him due to his violent behavior; Terry is a mother, ex-prosecutor and wife with a crumbling marriage. One night, Evan knocks on Terry’s door during a severe thunderstorm, asking to borrow the phone. Terry allows him to use her phone, apparently forgetting that most people have cell phones. She eventually invites the mysterious stranger in, which sets in motion the events that follow.
For the first twenty minutes of the movie, Evan puts on the innocent act. Terry and her friend Meg, who joins shortly after Evan’s arrival, spend some leisurely time with the homicidal man, sipping wine and flirting. The casual banter is drawn out a little too long— enough to make you think “Is this guy just here to crash a girls night?”
After the first, never-ending hour of the movie, the producers finally decided the repetitive dialogue put half the theater to sleep and resolved to throw some action into the mix.
The second half of the not-so-suspenseful film is marked by disturbing domestic violence. Viewers are left with a visceral feeling of disgust.
Evan is shown sitting on Terry’s child’s bed, laughing and throwing her into the air. The two are having a harmless time, however it’s clear he’s doing it to instigate Terry—and his plan certainly works.
In the most overdramatic of ways, Terry grabs a fire extinguisher, which just so happens to be on the wall outside the child’s room, and sprays it all over Evan. Evan retaliates with violence, while Terry runs and hides.
From this point on, the movie becomes increasingly predictable. The lousy plot unfolds rapidly with little explanation of many unanswered questions. The plot twist is especially hollow; it does little to elicit any emotion and makes you angrier once you realize it was supposed to be the turning point of the movie.
“No Good Deed” is advertised as a thrilling and suspenseful crime film, but could be better described as a Lifetime movie with a tired storyline.
If you’re looking for an action-packed movie with a deep plot, you’re going to be disappointed. The movie has some violence-laced action scenes, but they do little to bolster the unfortunate story
The end of the film will have you exclaiming, “Is that really it?” and you’ll walk out of the theater wishing you had saved your time and money for a movie with some depth.
