No Good Deed

Idris Elba, best known as the cunning Stringer Bell on HBO’s “The Wire,” takes top billing in this dud of suspense-thriller. Elba stars as Colin Evans, a prisoner on a murder beef who’s up for parole. Meeting the parole board, his plans for freedom are thwarted by an overzealous board member and it looks like it’s back to eating prison chow and playing pinochle. Instead, Evans brutally murders a couple of guards and escapes. While he’s on the lam, he senselessly murders his girlfriend. This scene is repeated throughout the movie, just in case you forget how bad this dude is. Taraji P. Henson (“Hustle & Flow”) plays Terri, a former special prosecutor who specialized in cases on violence against women. Evans knocks on her to door to use her phone, and voila, we get a lukewarm cat & mouse flick. Elba and Henson, usually superb, flounder throughout this mess.