If you have a soft spot for helpless ex-conmen seeking redemption, you have found the right movie.

“The Samaritan” is the story of a former-grifter named Foley (Samuel L. Jackson, “Pulp Fiction,” “Snakes on a Plane”) who gets out of prison after 25 years for killing his best friend and partner. The son of his former partner wants to get revenge on Foley as well as recruit him for an $8 million con.

According to director David Weaver, the film is trying to be a noir with a focus on character development.

Jackson deftly plays Foley with his brooding, deadpan manner that is inclined to sudden outbursts of anger.

The viewer can see that his life has withered during all of those years in prison. Foley is having a hard time adjusting to life outside of prison – especially because he is thrust back into the world of grifting from which he seeks redemption.

“Nothing changes unless you make it change” is his mantra.

Foley is an anti-hero who really wants to act morally. He has a pattern of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, where desperation is the deciding factor. For all of his power plays and menacing stares, he’s subordinate to the constructions of other people.

Because of his lack of free will, or at least responsibility, Foley hardly develops as a character. Which is not a good quality for a protagonist in an allegedly character-driven film.

The character of Iris (Ruth Negga, “Misfits”) is more dynamic, and by extension, interesting. We see her go from junkie to reformed lover to spurned lover and so on. She is a smart, 25-year-old, husky-voiced subject of Ethan who charms and scares 50-year-old Foley (and the audience) when she comes on to him.

Negga’s acting is the most impressive in the film. She brings earnestness to her character, and effortlessly shifts among her character’s changes.

As a thriller, plot twists are the bread and butter of the film’s progression. However, plot twists ideally should also be big and mind-blowing while fitting in with the storyline. The attempts at plot twists partially get the job done. Nothing seems to be coincidental. But that’s not shocking because the film doesn’t con the viewer into trusting it.

On a strangely satisfying note, the romance that forms between Iris and Foley is disturbing to watch for the second time around, after you know the circumstances of their relationship.

Overall, the film halfway succeeds in what it intends to pull off. Viewers can be justified in seeing it in theaters – whether for a love of Samuel L. Jackson, an interest in the crime underworld, or boredom. But I personally would rent it.

The film will be released later this year. The world premiere took place on Jan. 28 at the local Lobero Theatre.