Review: ‘No Good Deed’: Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson and B-movie mayhem

It’s a little dumb (OK, maybe more than a little), but “No Good Deed” is an otherwise brisk, efficient thriller that won’t punish audiences who drop in.

Anchored by a pair of compelling performances by Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, who squeeze the most out of their archetypal roles, “Deed” makes no bones about its standard issue, woman-in-jeopardy engine. That the movie is as watchable as it is, even with its share of telegraphed bits and predictable moves, says much about the certain grasp director Sam Miller (BBC’s “Luther,” which also starred Elba) and writer Aimee Lagos have on the unabashedly B-movie material.

Elba plays Colin, a violent murderer denied parole, who escapes from his post-hearing transport, steals a car, kills again and then crashes said vehicle in a woodsy, upscale Atlanta neighborhood. Handsome, charming and manipulative (he’s dubbed a malignant narcissist -- and for good reason), Colin works his way into the home of Terry (Henson), a former D.A. turned beleaguered mom whose caddish husband (Henry Simmons) has conveniently just left town. She also has a flirty BFF (Leslie Bibb) who has “movie victim” written all over her pretty face.

Terry initially seems far too trusting for the tough gal she’ll soon become. To wit, she goes from chatting up Colin and serving him tea to trying to waste the guy once it hits her he’s not the phone-forgetting neighbor with car trouble he’s claimed.

A deadly game of cat-and-mouse ensues -- one that includes a sexy-scary shower scene and a brutal use of household items -- that’s easy enough to get swept up in if you don’t think too deeply. (Doesn’t anyone ever turn on the news? And isn’t Terry’s toddler daughter astonishingly collected under such fraught circumstances?)

As for the plot twist that supposedly caused Sony Pictures to, at the 11th hour, cancel the film’s one advance screening lest any previewer spill the beans (really?), it’s a pretty decent bombshell. Still, you may guess it seconds before it’s revealed.

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“No Good Deed”

MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence, terror, language

Running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Playing: In general release