2025 The Avenue
Rated: R
Length: 1 hr 34min
Action ~ Comedy
Directed by: Simon West
Starring: Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, and Cooper Hoffman.
Competition Is Always A Killer
Christoph Waltz as Danny Dolinski is the heart and headache of “Old Guy,” a hitman whose career high points are undermined by a creaky body and creeping obsolescence. The movie opens with Danny partying like a man half his age, only to quickly remind us, with a wicked hangover and arthritic hesitation, that time is no friend to aging assassins. When Danny’s ready to rejoin the world of contract killing after a hand surgery sideline, his handler Opal instead hands him insult with assignment: train Wihlborg (Cooper Hoffman), a Gen Z whiz kid with the fashion sense of a festival-goer and the emotional warmth of an iced latte.
Any hope for a revitalized, James Bond-style comeback fizzles as Danny and Wihlborg collide in the field—Wihlborg doesn’t drink, barely socializes, and takes killing as seriously as an avant-garde art project, all to our curmudgeonly anti-hero’s dismay. Sent to Belfast on a job that quickly unravels, Danny botches the hit thanks to his unreliable hand, forcing Wihlborg to save the day with ruthless professionalism. Despite their mutual suspicions, the two realize the gig is bigger than their personal beefs—someone inside their own organization is playing both sides, and both hitmen are rapidly moving up next on the target list themselves.
Enter Anata, played by Lucy Liu, whose nightclub serves more as a weapons depot than a party venue and whose presence complicates Danny’s feelings and loyalties. She’s no damsel, she’s the object of Danny’s unspoken affection and a wild card in the unfolding conspiracy. When the trio finds themselves caught between mob bosses and double-crossing handlers, they’re forced to rethink what loyalty, legacy, and survival really mean in the killing business.
Old Guy assembles an enviable cast; Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu, and Cooper Hoffman, promising a genre-busting assassin caper with a splash of biting wit. The foundations are laid for a generational clash that should have been electric, but the set-up, brimming with potential for comedic and dramatic fireworks, instead sputters as the film drifts into predictability. The old pro and his green apprentice trade barbs and botched jobs through Belfast’s rain-slicked streets, but the banter rarely crackles, and the action beats stumble into well-worn “geezer assassin” territory. Even a mob war conspiracy and the reliable presence of Lucy Liu’s Anata, a fixer with more sense than most, can’t generate enough fresh energy to distinguish this outing from countless other streaming titles.
What’s most disappointing is how little the film does with its heavyweight cast. Waltz is clearly having fun with Danny’s self-deprecating swagger, but Lucy Liu and Cooper Hoffman are left orbiting his performance rather than building dynamic chemistry of their own. Instead of the odd-couple fireworks promised by the premise, we get tired tropes—grumpy mentor, sullen prodigy, double-crossing bosses—sketched out with dialogue that never quite sparkles and action sequences that feel recycled from more memorable films.
“Old Guy” isn’t unwatchable, thanks mostly to the professionalism of its stars and a handful of sly, self-aware moments, but at only 94 minutes it started to feel a lot longer. It’s a bland, overly familiar ride that fails to capitalize on the unique talents assembled. Given the collective charisma and experience of Waltz, Liu, and Hoffman, the finished product feels like a missed opportunity, a reminder that even the best casts can’t transcend a flat script and uninspired direction.
STREAMING MOVIE NIGHT 