Old Man and the Gun review: A tired and slow moving story, like Robert Redford

Hollywood legend Robert Redford, now 82, stars in a film based on the true-life story of Forrest Tucker who escaped from San Quentin prison in his 70s to carry out a series of bank robberies.

The premise itself is promising and there is a lot of scope for humour as well as action.

But unless you read the synopsis before seeing the movie, you would have no idea Forrest had even escaped from prison until the end of the film when it is haphazardly touched upon.

It is disappointing at best and bad writing at worst because you can’t help but feel that there is a lost opportunity for drama and excitement – which characterises the film as a whole.

What’s more distressing is that it is rumoured to be Hollywood legend’s last hurrah, but it is more like a tired sigh.

Redford deserves more from the script and direction, as does the audience.

The story doesn’t necessarily have to be jam-packed full of action to be exciting and while the film start does start with a high-speed car chase, it very quickly unravels and becomes boring.

Forrest shakes the cops by stopping to help Jewel (Sissy Spacek) who has car trouble.

The next scene cuts to the pair sitting across from one another in a diner while Forrest lays on the charm and tells her he is a bank robber, but Jewel remains sceptical.

The relationship between the two could have blossomed more and Jewel is merely a two-dimensional prop to showcase just how dashing Forrest is.

Then there is the actual bank heist which is brazenly carried out right under the nose of police chief John Hunt (Casey Affleck).

Soon John is on the hunt for the old timer and his accomplices (Danny Glover as ‘Teddy’, and Tom Waits as ‘Walter’), who he dubs the “over the hill gang” – which could be an epitaph for this movie.

You feel you have aged about 70 years once the movie is over and the film finale is a whimper, rather than a roar.

While Robert Redford gives a fine performance, as does Casey Affleck, it is the script and direction that lets the film down.

Charm is not enough to carry the audience and Forrest feels flat and undeveloped.

He doesn’t have enough opportunity or scope to engage with his world.

Forrest and John Hunt meet only once in the entire movie and despite John coining the name for the geriatric band of robbers, it doesn’t seem like he tries all that hard to find Forrest other than a few heart warming scenes of his children helping to map a trail of the robberies.

Perhaps Jewel could have been a vehicle to tempt Forrest away from his life of crime, or perhaps Forrest’s other gang members could have spoken more than a handful of lines.

But most of all, perhaps the audience could have seen another side to Forrest’s character.

The audience is relentlessly bludgeoned by characters talking about how “charming” and “gentlemanly” the robber is.

However, it seems unlikely that a man who has been in and out of prison all his life doesn’t have a more ruthless and nasty side.

As such, Forrest is two-dimensional as the rest of the movie and the script feels unfinished, or even maybe just immature – which is ironic considering how old the lead of the film is.