In the first trailer for Sylvester Stallone's new superhero movie Samaritan, the criminals rule the streets, and danger lurks around every corner. However, a superhero, the Samaritan, exists in the world who can protect the people on the streets. Unfortunately, he's said to have died years ago -- or at least that's what everyone thinks.
The Samaritan is Stallone's character, who is now a sanitation employee. However, despite wanting to stay hidden, he has to change things up when a young boy learns the truth and convinces him to return to help the city. And if that sounds familiar, it's because the plot is similar to a superhero movie from over two decades ago, M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable.
The trailer makes it look like the Samaritan was the only hero in this world, and he was an every-man who gained his powers through an accident. It also appears that his powers are super-strength, durability and agility. And that makes him eerily similar to Bruce Willis' David Dunn in Unbreakable. In fact, from how Stallone's character dresses to his way of looking at the world, Samaritan almost feels like a spiritual sequel to that Shyamalan cult classic.
There has already been a sequel to Unbreakable, Split. But at its best, it was a way to tie together Shyamalan's horror movie with his superhero classic. The series' third film, Glass, brought back David Dunn and Mr. Glass and put them into a hero battle royal with James McAvoy's serial killer. And while that was a fun experience for fans, it wasn't an Unbreakable sequel as much as it was a tie-in movie. David's death in Glass also proved disappointing for fans who wanted to see him return for two decades after his first appearance. Thankfully, while Samaritan's hero isn't David Dunn, the two heroes share a lot in common, which could provide fans with a fitting conclusion in a very similar world.
In Unbreakable, David gained his powers but did not know why he did or what to do with them. He then set his sights on helping people, albeit doing it behind the scenes to keep from going to jail for vigilantism. However, in Glass, David was still operating in the shadows years later. But what if David had become a hero to the public? That is the story that Samaritan is telling, and it could prove to be a lot more satisfying than Glass.
To see Stallone's spiritual sequel to Unbreakable, Samaritan hits Prime Video Aug. 26.