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“Old Guy” (in select theaters beginning Friday, Feb. 21) is an action-comedy that’s light on jolts and laughs. To even call it an action-comedy is somewhat misleading as it’s actually more of an action-drama or character study/hangout movie between an aging assassin and an eager upstart.
Christoph Waltz stars as Danny Dolinski, a London hitter who’s nearing retirement as his arthritic hands are making it difficult for him to work as a triggerman. Dolinski insists he’s got more gas in the tank, but his handlers think otherwise. They assign him to train Wihlborg (Cooper Hoffman, looking an awful lot like his Pop), a prodigious plugger who’s new on the scene.
A mission sends Dolinski and Wihlborg to Northern Ireland to eliminate a target. Accompanying them on their journey is Dolinksi’s friend and possible love interest Anata (Lucy Liu).
“Old Guy” is directed by Simon West (“Con Air”) and scripted by Greg Johnson (writer of the Machine Gun Kelly Western “The Last Son”). West would seem a natural fit for this material having directed the fun 2011 remake of “The Mechanic” starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster, but Johnson’s so-so script is doing him few favors. The story is thin, characterization is slim and the dialogue is rote. The picture’s third act sports more and better action, but it’s too little too late.
Elevating the material at every turn are Waltz, Hoffman and Liu. Waltz has given two of my favorite performances of the 21st century in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” and “Django Unchained,” but he’s never hit these heights again elsewhere. He’s good here, but nowhere near the level he was there. I’ve liked Hoffman in everything I’ve seen him in (namely “Licorice Pizza” and “Saturday Night”) and I liked him here too. He and Waltz have pretty good chemistry and I dug the gaudy duds in which costume designer Ciana O’Kane dressed his Wihlborg. Liu is perfectly serviceable, but given very little to do.
The project has a certain laziness to it. An opening montage of Dolinski dancing, drinking and partying is recycled during the closing credits. It wasn’t all that cool or funny the first time.
It’s fair to say “Old Guy” is old hat – more in blah than “In Bruges.”