No matter how much of an expert you become in a particular field, there will come a point where you are seen as “the old guy”, someone who was previously at the top of their game, but the march of time and the inevitability of the younger generation taking over means that we will all eventually be usurped and viewed as nothing more than beloved veterans who are entirely past their prime, at the best of times. This concept is the foundation for Old Guy, in which Simon West tells the story of Danny Dolinski, who was at one point the most feared assassin in Europe, but in exchange for having his life spared on countless occasions (a result of his effectiveness and resourceful nature when completing assignments), he has been forced to meet a very different fate, and one that is far more feared: he grows old and respectable, the consequences of simply being too good at his job. He is coerced into accompanying a young upstart on what he is told will be his final mission, the pair beginning as stark adversaries that cannot stand one another as a result of the generational gap and their respective inabilities to see the value in the other, before they eventually find common ground and discover that they have to work together or put themselves in constant danger. A film that delivers exactly what it promises (although some may find this disappointing, particularly those who were fooled into thinking it was more complex than it initially seemed), and which offers us nothing more than 90 minutes of wholeheartedly entertaining, non-stop action with a few wonderful moments of comedy sprinkled throughout, Old Guy is a solid film, albeit not one that does anything particularly revolutionary – but we soon begin to wonder if this was even necessary in the first place, since the final product is certainly not without its merits.

The concept of a hitman growing old to the point where they cannot perform as they did in their heyday is not entirely new, but it hasn’t been explored as extensively as it is in Old Guy, which is built less around the action and more along the underlying thematic cues. It seemed to be inspired by a very particular image – an ageing assassin discovers he cannot function as he did when he was younger due to the growing arthritis in his hand making it difficult to handle a gun and therefore puts him in a precarious position as far as his profession is concerned – and it certainly makes a meal out of this premise. West constructs the film around the oft-used odd couple scenario, where two very different character archetypes are thrust together and forced to be the focus of the story, their journey from enemies to companions being wholeheartedly endearing, but not entirely original. Yet, West does find moments in which he can place a few very interesting ideas that do elevate the film above merely being a series of delightful meanderings, giving it some substance where it was most needed. The film does attempt to be a stark meditation on the concept of ageing and realizing that certain paths on life are best followed in our younger years, and it certainly doesn’t feel entirely lacking when it comes to these slightly more sombre, downbeat conversations, which it complements with a genuinely funny set of musings on what it is like to live a life in which criminal activity is not only a profession, but viewed as a delicate art that needs to be mastered. Old Guy navigates a very narrow tonal tightrope, but at the very least it makes sure that it is always attentive and detailed as far as its lingering conversations on the underlying themes are concerned, which makes a profound difference in the relationship we forge with this film.

Since he skyrocketed to fame just over fifteen years ago, Christoph Waltz has had quite a peculiar career trajectory – his first few performances showcased Hollywood’s fascination with someone who is objectively talented, but it didn’t take long for the industry to lose their grasp on him as an actor, almost as if they’re reaching out to the audience to ask what can be done with a German-Austrian sexagenarian whose entire breakthrough as an actor was playing a specific kind of snarling continental character that always seemed to be the smartest and shrewdest in the room. He has worked steadily, but rarely found a moment in which he could recreate the same enchantment we felt when first encountering his work. Old Guy cannot faithfully be considered a career-high for Waltz, but it certainly is a performance that is built from the careful cultivation of his famous persona, which is openly mocked in a loving but forthright manner, and we can see his efforts to do something quite different with this role. He’s wonderful on screen, and he is openly showcasing his inherent charisma, easily convincing us of the nature of this character and everything that he ultimately represents, which is bitingly funny and frequently very engaging. There’s something quite entertaining about how Waltz handles the specific nuances of this role, and its supported by the great work being done by Cooper Hoffman (who continues to honour the legacy of his late father by working laboriously to stretch himself as an actor), and a surprisingly wonderful Lucy Liu, who has been absent from delivering these nuanced performances for far too long. Old Guy isn’t defined by its actors, but it certainly puts in the work to get them to deliver strong, complex work in the process, and the results are nothing if not spellbinding in and of themselves.

West has helmed a number of well-liked action films over the years, and while he isn’t entirely a household name, his body of work does certainly speak for itself as far as his ability to weave a compelling narrative together tends to go. Old Guy is not an entirely ingenious or bespoke work, but it’s a solid and well-made action comedy that faithfully adheres to both components of that description, enough to keep us wholeheartedly engaged at the best of times. A film like this cannot outrun conventions, especially since it occupies a genre that doesn’t always relish in thinking too far out of the box, which can lead to a few small complications when it comes to trying something different. For West, the focus is not on innovation of the genre, but rather the small ambiguous components that bind a film together – the action scenes become increasingly more tense and elaborate as the film progresses (and they’re not so daring that they feel as if they are elevating the genre), but what makes them so much more effective is the ideas that surround them – the philosophical conversations that bookend many of these themes (some intentionally funny, others very sombre and bleak), the examination of what it is like to live as someone who commits murder for a living, and the very nature of growing old and realizing that you cannot hold onto relevance forever. The film handles all of these ideas with a peculiar amount of elegance, delivering a heartfelt and often quite engaging examination of themes that should not resonate with the viewer on a technical level, but nonetheless still contain some merit in terms of how it taps into some deeper ideas to which we can all relate in one way or another.

Old Guy is the definition of a truly solid, entertaining film – it runs a paltry 90 minutes, so it never overstays its welcome, and the pace with which it moves makes sure that we are not bored, constantly keeping us invested in these characters and their peculiar journeys of self-discovery that gradually and methodically coalesce into an oddly engaging meditation on life and death, focusing around the subject of mortality and how someone simply cannot escape the passage of time, regardless of their best efforts. It’s a very entertaining film, and it gives us exactly what we would expect, evading all sense of promising ideas that it knew it was incapable of delivering, and focusing more on bolstering the areas in which it had the most confidence in its strengths. West knows how to keep us engaged, and while the film does nothing we haven’t seen many times before, it does give us keen insights into the lives of these characters, offering us a much more well-crafted set of archetypes that are carefully woven together into meaningful players in a story much deeper than it seems to be on the surface. If nothing else, Old Guy is an opportunity to see a solid blend of action and comedy, anchored by a terrific cast and a sense of curiosity that far exceeds the limitations we would expect based on a surface-level analysis of its fundamental themes and the approach it takes to examine them in detail.