Samaritan

Perhaps the real world could use some heroics to escape the socioeconomic doldrums. But as Samaritan illustrates, we hardly need yet another cinematic story of a legendary blue-collar vigilante hiding in plain sight before emerging to save the day.

Immersing us in a gritty working-class urban landscape overrun with desolation and despair, this stylish superhero saga from director Julius Avery (Overlord) feels more familiar than fresh as it mixes adolescent fantasy with a dark tale of redemption and revenge.

It centers on 13-year-old Sam (Javon “Wanna” Walton), whose single mother (Dascha Polanco) is struggling to avoid eviction in a rundown apartment building in Granite City, which itself has seen better days.

Sam pins his hopes on a return of Samaritan, a superpowered hero who is rumored to be dead. But the precocious kid insists that’s not the case as a spray-paints his idol’s logo across town and shares conspiracy theories with anyone who will listen.

Could reclusive neighbor Joe (Sylvester Stallone) be the retired Samaritan? Sam uncovers clues to that effect even as he works jobs for petty criminal Cyrus (Pilou Asbaek) to make some quick cash.

As secrets are revealed about both men, lingering hostility triggers an escalating feud that could tear the city apart, with Sam caught in the middle.

Despite Joe’s thinly sketched back story, Stallone gets an opportunity to prove he’s still got the tough-guy action-hero bona fides at age 76, in case there was any doubt.

An expressive performance by Walton (“Euphoria”) might have youngsters identifying with Sam’s cautious optimism and his resourcefulness under such desperate circumstances.

Their central relationship forms the emotional anchor. However, the periphery characters aren’t as compelling, especially the cartoonish villain whose jealousy gives way to a conflict rooted in knee-jerk political activism and opportunism.

Rather than capitalizing on the timeliness of such a concept — the way in which unscrupulous rogues are positioned as folk heroes — the screenplay by Bragi Schut (Escape Room) lacks subtlety and surprise, never generating sufficient urgency while funneling toward a predictable final showdown.

As visual effects dominate the ultraviolent climactic battle for control of the city’s future, Samaritan becomes less charitable and more formulaic.

Rated PG-13, 99 minutes.