“No Good Deed” is a home invasion “thriller” (those are exaggerated quotations, which are difficult to express in print) that does, in a very mediocre way, what nearly every home invasion thriller does, to poor effect.

Idris Elba, of “Pacific Rim” and “Thor” fame, leads an uninspired cast with a very uninspiring performance himself. Elba has never been an expressive or overly emotional actor. His previous supporting roles may have been undamaged by his dramatical shortcomings, but “No Good Deed” suffers at the hands of a bland villain, with a bland plot that is carried out in a very bland way.

Criminal home invasion movies that are labeled as thrillers are often times simply tamer versions of horror films. The protagonist exists to the move the story along and, hopefully, survive. The real flavor of the movie, the one element that makes or breaks it, is the villain. Light is so often defined by the shape of the shadow against which it is set. What people are afraid of, and what these types of films so desperately need, is a piercing, jagged shadow that seems to absorb the very light from the room. What we get in “No Good Deed” is an unfortunate, amorphous blob of an antagonist that casts a weak shadow with rounded edges.

I can say, with first hand experience, that originality is difficult. It’s a concern that will only grow in cinema, television, literature and other creative endeavors in coming years. There is so much content out there for consumption that similarities that might have gone unnoticed 30 years ago and are now plainly obvious. The thriller genre, in particular, stands on the brink. The amount of innovation necessary for a thriller in the same vein as “No Good Deed” to impress critics and captivate audiences is nothing short of gargantuan.

In the end, “No Good Deed” is simply an undefined shadow that neither intrigues nor scares.

3 of 6 stars