(L to R) Cooper Hoffman and Christoph Waltz in the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
‘Old Guy’ receives 4.5 out of 10 stars.
Opening in theaters February 21 is ‘Old Guy,’ directed by Simon West and starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, Cooper Hoffman, Desmond Eastwood, Ann Akinjirin, and Kate Katzman.
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Initial Thoughts
Is there anything left to say in the crime genre, more specifically in stories about hitmen? Well, last year’s ‘Hit Man,’ in fact, tried some different, sexy, and refreshing things, but this year’s ‘Old Guy’ seems content to recycle the same old tropes that we’ve seen a million times before.
Directed by Simon West – best known for disposable action fests like ‘Con Air,’ the first ‘Tomb Raider,’ and ‘The Expendables 2’ – ‘Old Guy’ isn’t exactly awful, and has some great actors in it. Yet it lives up to its title by exuding exhaustion from every frame. The progression of the plot is easy to predict from the word “go,” and the movie offers nothing particularly insightful or witty to counteract that. It’s the kind of material that you might find yourself second-screening on Netflix one day, and if that’s enough, then ‘Old Guy’ might be for you.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director Simon West and Christoph Waltz behind the scenes on the set of the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Danny Dolinski (Christoph Waltz) is an aging, legendary hitman just coming back from surgery on his hand. Since it was his gun hand, Danny’s been unable to work for a couple of months, but when he shows up at the British countryside home of his boss Opal (Ann Akinjirin) ready for duty, he’s in for a shock: with Danny getting older and potentially less effective, she’s teaming him with a young killer named Wihlborg (Cooper Hoffman) who she wants Danny to train and observe in the field, although Danny senses that he’s ultimately going to be replaced.
Naturally, Danny does not take to this well, especially when Wihlborg turns out to be a croc-wearing, nail-painting hipster who looks like he’d be more at home at a Marias concert than the bars and nightclubs Danny likes to frequent. Unlike his would-be mentor, Wihlborg doesn’t drink, smoke, or show much interest in women (even being around alcohol makes him “uncomfortable,” he says) and takes his work very seriously: “This is a craft for me. Actually more like an art,” he tells Danny, who quickly retorts: “We’re no artists. We’re sanitation workers. We take out the garbage.”
Christoph Waltz in the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Typically, their first job together – which takes them to Belfast — does not go according to plan: Danny has Wihlborg wait in the car against Opal’s wishes, but when he screws up the kill due to his hand still healing, Wihlborg comes on the scene and dispatches the target and two bodyguards with ruthless efficiency. As a result, Danny develops a grudging respect for his younger partner, while still offering him advice when needed.
It turns out that the pair are going to need each other. That first target was the No. 3 man in a Belfast-based crime organization that Opal wants to take out so that she can consolidate her own empire. The next targets are Nos. 1 and 2. But there’s also a mole inside Opal’s organization who betrays everyone – forcing Danny and Wihlborg to work together to save their own skins. Also involved in all this is Anata (Lucy Liu), a bar owner who’s Danny’s weapon supplier and his great unrequited love. She improbably comes along on the trip to Belfast for a date with a doctor she’s met there — Danny is squarely in the friend zone for her — but it’s not long before her life is in danger as well.
Much of ‘Old Guy’ is taken up by the usual double-crosses, shootouts, chases, standoffs and escapes, with Danny finding his mojo again as the stakes are raised for him, Anata, and Wihlborg. The best thing we can say is that West shoots it all efficiently enough, with some gorgeous Northern Ireland scenery to gaze at when the action upfront falls flat, which is often the case.
The Cast and Performances
(L to R) Lucy Liu and Christoph Waltz in the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Ever since veteran Austrian-German actor Christoph Waltz burst into Hollywood with his stunning performance as the sadistic SS officer Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds’ in 2009, his career on this side of the Atlantic has been a checkered one. While winning the Oscar for both ‘Basterds’ and his second Tarantino performance as King Schultz in 2012’s ‘Django Unchained,’ Waltz has also turned in scenery-chewing, hammy work in films like ‘The Green Hornet,’ ‘Downsizing,’ and the lasttwo James Bond film, where he played an unfortunately reinvented Blofeld.
Waltz can be an engaging, charismatic presence, and is a bit more restrained in ‘Old Guy’ than he’s been before. But the character is a cliché: the aging assassin who still has a moral code but finds the world moving past him, he’s disdainful of rules dictating what he can and can’t say, suspicious of people who don’t like to drink as prodigiously as him, and wary of working for criminals who treat their regimes almost as corporate entities. We’ve seen this before, and Waltz doesn’t offer any surprises in the role.
Cooper Hoffman in the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
More interesting is Cooper Hoffman’s Wihlborg, although the idea that a young fellow who wears pajama pants on jobs can be taken seriously as a killer is a bit of a stretch. But rising star Hoffman does bring some shading to a somewhat underwritten role, showing some glimpses of the psychopath lurking under his soft exterior who’s at one point willing to kill a child.
On the other hand, the fabulous Lucy Liu is wasted in her role as Anata, the love interest who comes along on the ride for no other reason than to be placed in danger so that Danny can rescue her and make her realize that he’s been there for her all along. Liu is always magnetic to watch, but she deserves better and seems disinterested in this one-dimensional role.
Final Thoughts
Christoph Waltz in the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
Crime as a numbers-crunching game, gangsters who still go home to see mom, wise-cracking banter, and hip-sounding needle drops – all elements that have played out over and over again in better movies. Even a cast that features top names like Waltz, Liu, and Hoffman can’t do anything but make this somewhat more watchable, although you know what’s going to happen every step of the way.
If there’s any word that describes ‘Old Guy,’ it’s “unambitious.” As we suggested earlier, this is the kind of movie that ends up as streaming fodder, perfect for background noise on a weekend afternoon while you do other things. It’s a shame that the cast and filmmakers can’t do much to rise above that.
“Competition is always a killer.”
What is the plot of ‘Old Guy’?
An aging assassin (Christoph Waltz ) is teamed up by his boss with a younger, brasher killer (Cooper Hoffman) to ostensibly train him, but suspects that he’s ultimately going to be ‘retired’ by his prodigal partner. The two must work together to stay alive, however, when they’re betrayed from within the company itself.
Who is in the cast of ‘Old Guy’?
- Christoph Waltz as Danny Dolinski
- Lucy Liu as Anata
- Cooper Hoffman as Wihlborg
- Desmond Eastwood as Colton
- Ann Akinjirin as Opal
- Kate Katzman as Simone
Director Simon West behind the scenes on the set of the Action/Comedy film ‘Old Guy’, a The Avenue release. Photo courtesy of The Avenue.
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