The Violent Black Man In ‘No Good Deed’

In the crime thriller No Good Deed (2014), Colin (Idris Elba) is the ultimate villain. He possesses a brilliant mind that is constantly churning, but for ill purposes, to invent cunning ways to maneuver out of entrapments.

Denied parole and on his way back to jail, he escapes from the prison van, shooting and killing two guards. There, his murder spree begins. He is on the loose, out to avenge his incarceration. With only murder on his mind, we get the sense that he has absolutely nothing to lose and nothing to live for.

For the most part, the film plays out with the suspenseful pace of a typical thriller.
Terri (Taraji P. Henson) is at home with her two children on a stormy night when the same man, wearing drenched clothing, knocks at her door. In a bit of dramatic irony, this is the same man we have seen already commit murder. (Later, a twist reveals that Colin did not show up at Terri’s doorstep at random; she was selected.)

On the fence, Terri finally decides to perform a good deed, to welcome a stranger in distress into her home. She lets him in, unaware that beneath Colin’s handsome and seemingly innocent mien lurks a violent criminal.

However, unlike villains with whom audiences empathize, Colin’s character is unredeemable. The filmmakers, white director Sam Miller and white writer Aimee Lagos, do not give his rampant murdering any logic or reason. We are made to believe that Colin is just programmed that way, like he is innately out for blood.

He also has lewd sexual fantasies. In one scene, Colin asks Terri to join him in the shower, though presumably, only so that she does not escape his watch. Subsequently, he orders her to remove her clothes, in his presence, to change into dry attire. Yet in both instances, there is a hint of sexual innuendo to his commands that is downright unsettling. He is the kind of character that African Americans have long tired of protesting against, the likes of Gus in Birth of A Nation (1915) or a fictional version of Willie Horton from the 1988 political ad–sans the actual rape.

Besides being violent, Black men are also portrayed to have unhealthy relationships with Black women. Besides Terri’s two young children, there are only three Black characters with prominent roles: Colin, Terri, and Terri’s husband Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) .

By the film’s end, Terri and Jeffrey’s marital dissolution is yet another display of the disdain that mainstream films directed and written by whites have for Black romantic relationships. Usually Black couples are not featured in mainstream movies or their relationships have tragic endings, as is shown here.

Overall, No Good Deed is an average thriller, with just the right amount scares, blood, and tension. But Black men should beware. If you expect to find a character that you can relate to, this is definitely not the one.

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