Wed 22 Jan 2025
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: NO GOOD DEED (2014).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[2] Comments
NO GOOD DEED. Screen Gems, 2014. Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson, Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo, Henry Simmons. Director: Sam Miller.
Idris Elba plays against type in this suburban home invasion thriller. Elba portrays Colin, an escaped convict with narcissistic personality disorder. On a dark stormy night in Atlanta, he enters both the home and life of Terry (Taraji P. Henson), a former prosecutor and current stay-at-home mom.
With charm and guile, Colin manages to persuade Terry that he is merely waiting for a tow truck after he wrecked his car. Little by little, and with the intervention of a friend of Terry’s, Colin’s story unravels. What begins as a good deed – inviting a stranger into one’s house to wait for a tow truck – turns into a nightmare.
That’s the premise. What happens next is standard home invasion thriller fare. A cat and mouse game between the monster and the captive. There are some very tense moments here, which go to show most of all how talented an actor Elba is.
There’s a moment – it’s actually quite late in No Good Deed – wherein the villain’s true motivations are finally revealed. Some might say that it comes too late. Others might rightfully consider that the reveal wasn’t presented in a manner that captures the viewer’s attention.
Still, it’s a pivotal moment in the movie and one that makes No Good Deed a slightly more clever thriller than it might initially appear to be. Which makes one wonder why the film has only a mere 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s definitely better than that.
Overall assessment: extremely watchable, but without a considerable amount of depth. If you choose to watch this one, do so for Elba’s performance and the claustrophobic atmosphere.

January 22nd, 2025 at 8:21 pm
The big reveal that Jon talks about in paragraph four does come too late, and it’s easy to miss, but on the other hand, I don’t know how the moviemakers could have inserted it any earlier. Nor, in fact, would they have wanted to.
What I really think is that it could have been done better. I missed the point of it, and I *think* I was paying attention.
January 25th, 2025 at 1:19 am
Elba seems a bit wasted in the role that is a bit one dimensional. If his character had a bit more depth the reveal would carry that much more weight.