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The best of 2018: The Old Man & the Gun

A review by Brooks Rich

2018 could very well have given us the last leading performance by a Hollywood legend. Robert Redford is one of the few remaining screen icons, a man who just defines cool when you see him on the screen, even at eighty-two. There aren’t really any actors like Redford anymore. His peers would be actors like Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, actors who just need to be on screen and can do so much by doing so little. True actors with gravitas. 
The Old Man & the Gun is not necessarily a tour de force performance for the actor, look to his performance in 2013’s All Is Lost for what could be his best performance and one of the greatest performances of all time, but Redford’s turn in The Old Man & the Gun seems tailor made for him. Who else but Redford could play a kind hearted bank robber? Redford is Forrest Tucker, a bank robber with a heart of a gold. Starring alongside Redford is screen legend in her own right Sissy Spacek as Jewel, his romantic interest, and Casey Affleck as John Hunt, a detective on his tail. All three leads perform admirably and I expect a nomination for Redford this year, although most likely it would just be an honorary nomination with no real chance of him winning. 
The film itself works as both a pseudo heist film and also a charming love story. The scenes between Redford and Spacek are just wonderful and they have real chemistry together. Director David Lowrey knows when to let the film stop and allow these two actors to work together. The film is at its strongest when Redford and Spacek are together and Lowery knew this. 
       The film isn’t perfect. There are some editing choices that are a bit strange and without spoiling something, a big moment in the film happens off screen. There is an art to having events in a film happen off screen but I’m not sure it works here. The Old Man & The Gun is not an amazing film but it is a very good film. It is a sort of throwback to the seventies where films were more deliberately paced. This is not a heist film like the Oceans or Fast and Furious franchise. It’s not even really a heist film. It’s a character study and the possible last ride of a legend. If this is indeed Redford’s last role, it couldn’t be a better fit. I salute you, sir. A career well done.

4/5


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