I was most intrigued to see “Old Guy” because of the cast. Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz stars as Danny, an aging hitman with a recently injured right hand, who is reluctantly training Wihlborg (played by Cooper Hoffman, fantastic in “Licorice Pizza” and “Saturday Night”). Danny’s longtime friend Anata (Lucy Liu) is also in the mix in this action thriller comedy, with a whole bunch of bad guys, some good guys, and even Danny’s mother shows up in the third act.
It’s the performances that sell “Old Guy”. Waltz doesn’t phone it in, and Hoffman is terrific and very believable throughout. This is directed by Simon West, who did “The Expendables 2”, so he knows how to craft action sequences, even if they’re not the biggest and craziest explosions this time. This film has more of an indie, lower budget feel to it and, overall, is a slightly above average experience.
The pacing’s a little slow at times, and the script has some messy aspects (including some forced ‘humor’ between Waltz and Hoffman early on), though there are a couple surprises in the final section. I wish Liu was given more to do with her role and mildly predictable subplot. And the slow-motion rave scenes are definitely the low points (not sure why they were shown again during the closing credits). But as far as action movies go, there have been far, far worse options lately.
LCJ GRADE: C+
Running Time: 93 min.