Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

No Good Deed Blu-ray Movie Review

No Good Blu.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 27, 2015

No Good Deed, Director Bob Rafelson's (Five Easy Pieces, The Postman Always Rings Twice) cinematic retelling of Author Dashiell Hammett's short story The House on Turk Street lacks the fine-tuned noir stylings, character depth, script polish, and technical prowess of the finest likeminded genre films -- including the legendary Humphrey Bogart picture The Maltese Falcon -- but presents as a serviceably dark Thriller nonetheless. It's a film that covers familiar territory and does so more by way of subtle hints and nudges and nods towards its styling rather than bludgeoning the audience with it, never taking it to the extreme just because it can, not because it should. The payoff for that well-struck balance, however, isn't particularly noteworthy. The film promises more than it delivers, slyly manipulating and maneuvering its audience right alongside its characters, but a disappointing hollowness keeps the movie better enjoyed along the periphery as a mildly moody escape rather than an immersive, precise picture of humanity at its worst.

Hostage.

It wouldn't be a movie if there weren't a curveball, and for Detective Jack Friar (Samuel L. Jackson) that curveball is a front-row seat to mayhem. The auto theft detective, who fancies himself a cello player and who works hard to keep his diabetes in check, has plans to take a few days away from tracking down stolen cars and retreat to a camp for underperforming cellists where he hopes to fine tune his craft and fill his cramped apartment's air with the soothing sounds of his own making. But his plans are interrupted when a neighbor pleads with him to help her solve a missing person's case. He urges her to contact the appropriate authorities -- that's not his field, and he's not on the clock -- but she won't budge, believing him to be the best man for the job. He reluctantly takes the case and makes the rounds with a photo of the missing girl and the young man suspected of stealing her away. He briefly stops his search to help an elderly woman, caught in a sudden downpour, return home with two armfuls of groceries, never suspecting that his act of kindness will have dire consequences.

Though it appears he's walked into friendly territory -- she and her husband insist he take some hot Indian tea as the least they can do to say "thank you" -- he's in fact stepped into a hornet's nest. When he reveals he's looking for a young blonde-haired man, he's knocked out and awakens tied in a chair and surrounded by several criminals whom he learns are preparing to rob a bank. One of the men, Hoop (Doug Hutchison), vaguely fits the description of the man he's after, but he's not the person in the now-missing photograph that fell out of his pocket in the storm. It turns out the elderly couple (Grace Zabriskie, Joss Ackland) is in on it too. Also part of the plan is the man who appears to be the brains of the operation, Tyrone (Stellan Skarsgård), and his girlfriend, Erin (Milla Jovovich). But Erin is playing Tyrone; she's also involved with the group's inside operative, David (Jonathan Higgins), who's gone along with the plan in hopes of escaping with Erin afterwards. When the plan is set in motion -- ahead of schedule -- Friar is left alone with the seductive Erin, bridging the gap between hostage and hostage taker and adding a wild card to the greater plans of all involved, plans which are more selfish than group oriented, more subversive and secretive than open and clear.

No Good Deed teems with potential that it never quite fulfills. The movie pokes and prods the audience with the promise of a greater dramatic arc and character depth that never quite materializes. The movie plays around the periphery of dark, brooding greatness -- accentuated by more than a bit of dark humor -- but always seems to settle for mediocrity, a paint-by-numbers approach when it's time to play its hand. The characters embody the movie's struggles. While there's a flatness to most of them, the film finds the beginnings of a unique little spark from Jovovich's Erin, a classic "femme fatale" in every sense of the term whose brain matches her beauty, whose hypnotic powers of manipulation and ability to play every side by using everything in her arsenal is easily the film's finest asset. Her interplay with Jackson's Friar -- notably an intensely erotic scene in which, as is often the case and certainly in No Good Deed, dancing around the fringe proves more agreeable than hitting head-on -- sets up plenty of potential for the film's final act which, like the rest of the movie, fizzles, but does so in a way that doesn't totally betray the cold, empty underpinnings that define film noir and that, admittedly, perfectly fits with the movie's rather lackadaisical approach to everything from core storytelling to technical development.

No Good Deed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

No Good Deed's 1080p transfer, presented at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, generally disappoints. The image is flat and absent the sort of higher end detailing, crispness, and filmic façade fans expect from even a mediocre presentation. Here, grain appears largely pushed aside, yielding instead an inorganic, lifeless picture that doesn't see it excel -- at least not more than a smidgen thanks to the raw muscle of the 1080p resolution -- beyond previous generation home video versions. The film's noir stylings mean it's not particularly lively; bold colors are infrequent but even so there's a dullness to the palette that favors bland, tired hues over bright, lifelike colors. Even the brightest sun-soaked exteriors fail to produce the sort of alive greenery one would expect to find. Black levels aren't particularly accurate and flesh tones favor a little bit of flatness and warmth. Blocking is a concern, as are some trace speckles and pops. All in all, this is a watchable transfer but not leaps and bounds better than DVD.

No Good Deed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Speaking of DVD, No Good Deed contains a no-frills, no-effort Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, presented at 192kbps. While there's a decent sense of center imaging -- dialogue always focuses up the middle -- there's not much spread for music or effects. Support pieces, such as passing traffic, never flow with the motion or screen, staying locked around the middle. Thunder and rain present with only the most basic sonic structure. There's no weight or lifelike definition to such supportive pieces, either, and the disappointment extends so far that a shotgun blast near film's end is barely audible, never mind forceful or deep. Even some of the beautiful classical music pieces heard throughout the film limp through the speakers with only the most cursory, raw definition at its disposal. The track gets listeners through the movie but it does nothing other than present the bare minimum.

No Good Deed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of No Good Deed contains no supplemental features.

No Good Deed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

No Good Deed doesn't quite climb to the top of the mountain. It's not a risk-taker, but it's a comfortable little bit of mildly intoxicating noir cinema in which its best qualities are also often its worst enemies. It's a bit too safe, a touch too flat, its core rather dull but its periphery alive with countless examples of dark and stylish character and dramatic arcs at its disposal that never see the full realization they deserve. The movie errs on the side of caution, keeping things so low-key that it never can bring all its juicy little morsels to full flavor. It's a decent enough little movie that's more style than substance and probably best suited to the most patient of moviegoers who haven't been fully Michael Bay'd. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of No Good Deed features pedestrian video and scraping-by audio. No extras are included. Rent it or wait until the price falls in-line with what the package has to offer.