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Old Man Reviews
Old Man is a unique thriller with what is arguably the best performance by Stephen Lang to date.
Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 11, 2023
If you’re looking for a traditional horror movie with reliable frights doled out in a recognizable pattern, well, McKee’s name alone should have been warning enough that you’re in the wrong place.
Full Review | Jun 13, 2023
McKee’s camera, which moves around like a living presence and always seems to be on the brink of discovering something terrible, makes it impossible to relax for long.
Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 31, 2023
An unexceptional psychological horror from director Lucky McKee that feels dated and clunky, with some fairly ropey acting – or maybe that is down to the shaky lines put into the actors’ mouths.
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 29, 2023
A clear project of dedication from all involved, Old Man shows a new side to McKee’s directorial talents, teasing more exciting projects to come.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 18, 2022
Old Man is a mysterious cinematic chamber play that tackles the weight of guilt. The film revolves around male possessiveness—the urge for men to lay claim and ownership to people, places, and things, though especially women.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 6, 2022
'Avatar' alum's incendiary performance turns stage-like tale into a keeper.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 22, 2022
For a film about two men in a tiny cabin, there’s never a dull moment... From there it either gets silly or interesting, depending on one’s preference for such things – but it never gets old.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 18, 2022
Lang and Senter keep it afloat. They’re nice fits for Veach’s off-kilter story, and McKee smartly leans on his two actors and their weird yet fascinating chemistry.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 17, 2022
Lang can go through gruffness, self-pity, menace, warmth, grief, and pretty much every other aspect of human emotion in a split second without us ever once wondering how he gets from one to the other.
Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 17, 2022
More pretentious than provocative...while it’s nice that Lang was allowed to take the wheel for a change, it’s a pity the vehicle he’s driving wheezes along the way and sputters to a stop.
Full Review | Original Score: C- | Oct 16, 2022
McKee delivers something we probably did not see coming, something that's bizarre and unsettling, and a bit disappointing all at the same time, given that our imaginations have been constantly buzzing up to the last stretch.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 15, 2022
While not entirely original or unpredictable, this dark look into a character’s soul is held together with excellent acting by Stephen Lang.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 14, 2022
McKee’s darker genre touches are sorely missed in Old Man, which is too reliant on performances that outshine a story seen coming like an asteroid the size of Mars.
Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Oct 14, 2022
The movie builds up enough steam, and has a sufficient supply of jolts, to make Old Man stick to the ribs at least a little by the time it’s over.
A superior example of how flavorful dialogue, talented actors and excellent staging can make something familiar really pop.
Full Review | Oct 14, 2022
The (un)reality of what’s happening beneath the surface is hardly unique or secretive, but [how] Veach writes its revelations and McKee films its visual labyrinth spanning past, present, and purgatory ensure the drama unfolding is never without intrigue.
Full Review | Original Score: B- | Oct 14, 2022
It’s essentially a two-character story where we are not quite of how much of a grip on reality one of them has. It’s worth a look primarily due to an intense performance by Stephen Lang as the otherwise-unnamed title character.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 14, 2022
Stephen Lang and Marc Senter have some tense chemistry together, but Old Man is primarily a slog that leaves you feeling like an old man when you come out the other side
Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 14, 2022
Old Man is the most monotonous movie I've seen in a long time.
Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 13, 2022
‘Old Man’ Review: Stephen Lang Stars in Psychological Thriller That Brings Nothing New to the Table
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'Wicked' Review: Jon M. Chu's Majestic Musical Defies Gravity Thanks To Cynthia Erivo's Electric Elphaba
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Whenever a movie boils its structure down to a single scenario and a handful of characters, it has to rely on the talent of its actors and the strength of its dialogue in order to keep viewers interested. This can result in interesting experiences such as the inventive 127 Hours , the dialogue-heavy What's In a Name? , or the surprisingly tense Buried . Much like these movies, Old Man knows it has to keep viewers interested, but it fails to perceive what interesting is.
Directed by Lucky McKee , the story follows the old man from the title, played by Stephen Lang ( Avatar ). We follow him as he wakes up in an isolated cabin and takes a while to get his bearings. He is then visited by a hiker who wandered off into a forest, got lost, and decided to ask for help. The old man feels threatened by Joe’s ( Marc Senter ) presence, and the big question is: Who’s invading whose space?
During Old Man ’s initial moments, it’s pretty easy to buy into the story and be intrigued by whatever’s happening between the two characters. You can’t help but wonder what is going on with both men, and for 20 minutes or so you can get fully invested in discovering where the story is going to turn out. But then you get the sense that the movie isn’t going anywhere, and the more time passes, the more you realize your suspicions are correct. Especially after the thriller aspects start to die out.
RELATED: 10 Best Movies That Take Place in Mostly One Location
The main problem of Old Man is that it never offers information that is interesting enough to keep viewers intrigued. During most of its runtime, the movie relies on lengthy monologues throughout which the characters reveal information about their past. However, the performances fail to draw the audience in, and the excess info dumping becomes the cinematic equivalent of listening to a loquacious person tell their life story as you wait for your turn in line at the DMV.
This is only made worse by the movie’s choice to keep Joe a mystery throughout the entire movie: In a clear effort not to give anything away before the movie’s final moments, Senter’s role is watered down to a one-note performance that prompts you to not care about him or his story. The longer he stays in the cabin, the less you fear that he's potentially in danger, and the less you wonder if he’s a threat. He just ends up being a sounding board for the old man, which is a terrible thing for a movie rooted in the thriller genre.
Once the initial thrill is gone, you can only hope for compelling dynamics between the two characters, or that you feel a connection to them. That doesn’t happen here. From its very start, Old Man goes out of its way to establish its title character as someone you can’t trust, with unpredictable behavior and shady motivations. On the other hand, you have Joe, who comes into that setting as a victim of sorts, but some flashbacks reveal he might not be one. So who are you going to root for?
The answer comes once the cards are on the table and all is revealed. In order to avoid major spoilers, let’s just say that a woman comes into play. But, surprisingly, that doesn’t help or improve the story at all. For its final act, Old Man thinks it is sending a powerful message, when in reality it’s just late to the party when it comes to female representation. The movie completely dehumanizes its only female character – literally – and makes it clear that its endgame is sending a simplistic message through overdone tropes.
Which makes me wonder: In this day and age, are these two characters really the best people to tell this story? Old Man seems content with not being diverse, and delivering twists we’ve seen a million times. Most of those twists are pretty easy to see coming, which explains why Joel Veach 's script only spills the beans on its very last moments. Not every movie has to be a manifesto, of course, but Old Man brings nothing to the table in any aspect. If you’re going to limit your setting this much, you have to give the audience something, whether it’s a truly compelling story, stellar performances, or an edge-of-your-seat mystery. Unfortunately, this movie has none to give.
Old Man is a psychological thriller that fails to understand what it takes for a story with that many limitations to work. On the aspects it does well – guilt and remorse – it tells a story we’ve seen a million times, and it’s not hard to see its big reveals coming. On the less obvious elements, the movie undermines its own message by silencing one of its most important characters and choosing instead to give the spotlight to the ones that bring nothing new to the table.
Old Man comes to theaters and VOD services on October 14.
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