Robert Redford’s alleged swan song film, The Old Man & The Gun, goes against the old adage: finish on a high note. Considering the massive talents involved – four Oscar winners in the cast alone – Redford, Casey Affleck, Sissy Spacek and Keith Carradine (for all of ten seconds) all under the direction of David Lowery, riding high on the coat tails of last year’s phenomenal A Ghost Story, this should have been a home run. Instead it’s a mildly enjoyable, gimmicky take on a heist story.
Redford plays Forrest Tucker, a bank robber with a twist. He and his crew of bandits are sexagenarians. Or septuagenarians. They’re old. That’s basically the twist. It’s a tale based on the real life figure who was in and out of prison his entire life, unable to give up his lifetime passion of armed robbery. Forrest is joined by Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller (Tom Waits) robbing banks across the south of America. They are dubbed by the media as the Over the Hill gang.
The screenplay, written by Lowery, involves a late in life love interest – Jewel (Spacek) and a cat and mouse trope with Affleck playing the cat – officer John Hunt. These characters add spice to a picture that skirts with dullness more than a couple of times. The biggest failing of the film is the commitment to retell every heist Tucker is involved in. It all becomes one giant extended montage with plot thrown in between. It’s a film without point A or point B that drifts aimlessly.
Casey continues his career tangent as Ed Norton 2.0, spurning big money earners in spite of his talent for these interesting roles. His dynamic with Forrest presents two clear good guys to the audience and makes it difficult to root for just one of the protagonists. Tucker’s other relationship with Jewel is what the emotional core of the film pivots on. And it pays off. Their relationship is sincere and more than a little moving.
Initially the character of Forrest is likeable and empathetic, with his calm gentlemanly demeanour. But by degrees this empathy is eroded as his poor choices and selfish behaviour continues and even escalates. His cheeky attitude is supposed to endear him. “I’m not talking about making a living. I’m just talking about living”. The film grossly glosses over how his poor decisions affect his loved ones, and conveniently fast forwards over all the jail time served. With Lowery’s omissions and steadfast positive portrayal of his protagonist, he seems intent on bestowing his audience with some kind of carpe diem inspirational take away message. Instead we have a frustrating one sided tale.
The story is interesting but there’s not enough gimmick to justify the big screen retelling. The tale of Forrest would definitely make an interesting segment on a This American Life episode or even just as a good random Wikipedia article to come across. It has a strong engaging beginning but by the end it does drone, dragging out what should have been a relatively speedy 93-minute running time. There are some funny moments but it’s more ha than haha.
The Old Man & The Gun is in cinemas from 15th November through Entertainment One.
