Samaritan movie: Sylvester Stallone and Pilou Asbaek star in Amazon’s new action film from WA’s Julius Avery

Back in 1976, Sylvester Stallone showed us he could throw a punch, and take more than his fair share of them, in Rocky.

Nearly half a century later, Stallone is still swinging those left hooks, only in his latest film for Amazon, Samaritan, those punches are superpowered.

Directed by WA’s Julius Avery, who helmed the wild 2018 nazi horror film Overlord, the movie imagines an alternate reality, where twin brothers with extraordinary powers grew up to become arch rivals in a battle of good and evil.

Fighting for good, one brother takes the name Samaritan while the other, under the moniker Nemesis, takes a darker path.

An opening montage reveals these battling bros destroyed each other in an epic confrontation back in the day, and, ever since, the residents of Granite City have been left to fend for themselves.

That is, until one day a 13-year-old kid and Samaritan superfan named Sam, played by Javon Walton, suspects his garbage man neighbour Joe (Stallone) of being the long, lost legend.

Happily retired from that hero life, Joe doesn’t want anything to do with Sam or his theory, but is inexorably drawn back into action by the nefarious presence of the city’s crime boss Cyrus, played by Euron Greyjoy from Game of Thrones, aka Danish actor Pilou Asbaek.

Even though the plot sounds like it was ripped right from the pages of a comic book, Samaritan was actually first written for the screen — and then turned into a graphic novel.

As a result, the film is grounded in something closer to reality, says Stallone.

“There has been a tremendous accomplishment by certain directors and certain companies, or Marvel and DC, that have really pushed the universe to the max, where everything that you could possibly imagine has been created,” Sly tells The West Australian over video call.

“But I always feel there’s nothing quite as relatable as almost getting hit by a car, or walking down a dark alley and . . . there’s a shadow coming behind you, that’s very relatable.

“So, what I’m trying to say in my awkward way is that we try to make the danger plausible and identifiable that that can happen to you; it’s not from another universe, it’s right here in the streets, so keep your guard up.”

At the ripe old age of 76, Stallone is well aware that the cachet he amassed from playing previous characters is the major selling point of a film like this, and the audience coming to Samaritan has a fair idea of what they’re buying, too.

“I hate to say it, but, in a way, we become a brand or a product,” Stallone says of himself.

“Some actors are unique that they blend into their characters, and they’re really good at it, and some you don’t blend, you’re different and you’re lucky you don’t blend.

“I thought, ‘OK, people see you as Rambo, they see you as Rocky, they see you as Demolition Man’, so why not take that baggage — good baggage, not too heavy — and then add it into something with a new equation.”

Part of the new equation here is working opposite Asbaek, and Stallone credits the Dane for making the film what it is.

“The key to the good guy is the bad guy,” Stallone admits.

“Like, for example, Mr. T or Drago (in the Rocky franchise), they just radiate, like, ‘Oh, s..., I don’t want to be around this’, well, it’s the same thing when I saw Pilou in Game of Thrones.

“There’s something in the eyes, he’s special; there’s something going on there that is truly frightening but intelligent . . . because he actually has a very good, gentle soul, great actor, but he also has a dark side, obviously, because you can’t fake it — he’s a Twisted Sister, a little weird, which is good.”

If Asbaek is weird, it’s exactly the same kind of weird as Avery, and, after teaming up previously on Overlord, the Danish star hopes there are many more collaborative opportunities in future.

“I hope I get to do 10 million more films with Jules, because I love the guy, and he can drink, that’s what I love about Aussies,” Asbaek laughs.

It was over a few (read: many) drinks in Los Angeles that Avery assured his buddy that he’d push the studio to case Asbaek as Cyrus, after the pair conceived the character as a techno Viking crossed with Kiefer Sutherland’s character in The Lost Boys.

“It sounds really stupid, I can hear that, but it was just two mates drinking and talking,” the actor laughs.

Far more stupid, one would argue, is wanting to duke it out with the most famous big-screen boxer.

“I was like, ‘Jules, I want to do my own stunts’, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, you can do that, and Sly’s up for that, just don’t punch him for real,” Asbaek says.

“And I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to die’.”

Samaritan is now streaming on Prime Video.