Upbeat and right in its stars' wheelhouse, The Retirement Plan more fun that I expected.
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A lot of movies use estranged parents as a key plot element. Very easy to see why. If a child doesn't have a relationship with their parent it naturally raises questions about what led to the split and presents unresolved tension (aka can this disparate people work through their issues). Almost all of the "comigng home" genre of movies is based around this idea. Or. If you happen to be making an action comedy, you can use this premise as a backdoor intro for "you messed with the wrong guy's family." trope.
The Setup
The movie follows two young parents who are in a world of trouble. Dad just participated in a heist against his employer who found out and is coming for his wife and daughter. Looking to get the young girl out of harm's way, our mother Ashley sends her daughter to the last known location of her father Matt, the Cayman Islands. And as said criminals will quickly discover, despite his schlubby appearance, Matt might be the safest place for the Ashley's daughter to be...
I think The Retirement Plan is best described as a movie that punches above its weight class.
Everything about this movie's aesthetic and vibe is on a modern day B-movie wavelength. That includes costumes, location and the limited effects work. On paper this a bog-standard action crime comedy. So what makes it work better than you'd expect?
I Missed This 90s As Hell Movie Vibe
The 90s were the golden era for independent crime comedies that usually involved some degree of misadventure involving organized crime and normal people. A mold that was set by Tarantino's Pulp Fiction that a lot of other movies borrowed from (anyone else I know familiar with movies like Suicide Kings?).
It's also a vibe that modern crime movies have mostly left behind. Most modern crime movies are one or the other. They're either a serious crime drama about a real-life person or case that demonstrates all of the faults you can imagine in the criminal justice system or a straight up comedy (i.e. a heist movie) with action elements sprinkled in.
So it's refreshing to see a bunch of gangsters fail to have a conversation with their boss who then get quick edit intros as they make their ways to the Caymans.
So it's refreshing to see a bunch of gangsters fail to have a conversation with their boss who then get quick edit intros as they make their ways to the Caymans.
It's also a great way to setup the movie's actual hook.
A Comedy Take on Taken
As ugly as lot of the movie actually is, Taken has a formula that works. You have a man with action hero skills that gets put into a situation to use them. But what if that man with action hero skills...was a shitty absentee father (even more so than Neeson was) and a drunk? That's the vibe of this movie as Nicolas Cage quickly reveals his lethal skill set to his daughter who's very pissed at him, but also realizes that her dad is her best chance for her family surviving. So instead of a monologue about how lethal Cage's Matt is, we get to meet with Ernie Hudson who's like "yeah this dude is an all time bad ass assassin...you're right."
It's a novel idea that I really like and also plays into Cage's mercurial nature as a performer (like of course this guy wasn't a great dad and sure he can skill people with ease).
It's a novel idea that I really like and also plays into Cage's mercurial nature as a performer (like of course this guy wasn't a great dad and sure he can skill people with ease).
The Ron Perlman Throughline
Much like Cage, Perlman is an actor who will kinda do whatever but often elevates the material above its station. In this movie's case, Perlman is an enforcer for our crime boss, who seems to be capable of more. Hence why he doesn't rush to kill the daughter and makes a point to bond with her and discuss literature. This is so hokey and shouldn't work, but it does because Perlman injects these scenes with genuine regret and pathos about what he will likely be asked to do.
It means that there's a question about whether or not Perlman will go with his employer or rebel and it feels like an honest to goodness coin flip.
The Big Ding: The Conspiracy
The biggest hit against this movie is this plotline: an elaborate conspiracy involving intelligence agencies and drug dealers. I get why this is probably here. This movie barely scratches the 100 minute mark and they probably wanted to bolster the run time.
But it also makes everything needlessly complicated and introduces cameo roles (i.e. Rich Fox is here?) that don't fully make sense.
I think the movie would work a lot better without it.
But it also makes everything needlessly complicated and introduces cameo roles (i.e. Rich Fox is here?) that don't fully make sense.
I think the movie would work a lot better without it.
The Verdict: Flawed but Very Fun
Upbeat and right in its stars' wheelhouse, The Retirement Plan more fun that I expected. 7/10
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