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It's been a rough day for New York detective Jack Friar (Samuel L. Jackson); all he set out to do was his distraught neighbor find her missing teenage daughter, whom she suspects of running off with her deadbeat boyfriend. With only a Polaroid of the boy and the name of the street on which he supposedly can be found- Turk Street- he heads out asking questions and looking around. A good deed done for an old woman on the stoop of her home, however, quickly devolves into Jack's capture and being held hostage by a group of criminals who are in the midst of pulling of a magnificent heist at the local bank. The leader of the group, Tyrone (Stellan Skarsgard), keeps close watch over the proceedings, all the while exacting his authority over henchman Hoop (Doug Hutchison), and his young femme fatale, Erin (Milla Jovovich), who when left alone with Jack during the robbery begins to warm up to him, leaving the question of her loyalty to the job hanging in the balance. ***

After sitting on the shelf and undergoing a name from from "The House on Turk Street" to its present title, director Bob Rafelson's quiet little noir thriller ambles on with a few moments of suspense that are few and far between in a sea of routine subplots and expected twists and turns. There's nothing we don't see coming minutes before it actually arrives, especially as the film draws to its hackneyed conclusion, where it's too easy to accomplish the impossible, and too hard to remain faithful to reality. With all of this in mind, "No Good Deed" aims more for the character drama aspects of its plot than it does anything else, and for some reason, I wish I could say that I admired this tactic. Samuel L. Jackson and Milla Jovovich have a unique, offbeat chemistry that adds some life to their moments together, but their characters are one-note caricatures of past disenchanted cop/bad-girl-with-a-heart roles. Time for Rafelson to do his good deed for the day to make up for this blunder, and the injustice done to his actors. --

For some odd reason, Columbia TriStar has decided to forego "No Good Deed's" original widescreen aspect ratio in favor of a fullframe transfer for this DVD. As a result, the image is fairly decent, and overall a very respectable effort that would have been much better has it been widescreen anamorphic. Colors are rich are nicely saturated, with accurate fleshtones throughout and solid blacks. Contrast and shadow detail are very good, and clarity makes it through quite well, although there are some enhancement halos, and small object detail could be better. There are some signs of artifacts here and there, and the source print, while close to perfection, is marred by a few moments of speckle and grain. ***

The audio comes in Dolby Digital 5.1, and registers as an aggressive track that works well with the movie. The score is nicely recorded for a wrap-around effect that manages to please, while the sound effects, although relatively few, are imaged nicely and make use of the available soundfield. The .1 LFE is engaged enough to be noticeable but not memorable, while dialogue sounds natural and remains consistent with the rest of the track.