It’s kinda nice to be at the point in Nicolas Cage’s career where the actor is willing to take truly batshit crazy roles. And a lot of the time, it feels as if the films he stars in are tailor-made for his own unique brand of acting. So, while on paper, “The Retirement Plan” feels like a lame attempt to replicate the “Taken”/Old guy with a particular set of skills formula, everything feels more interesting and exciting with Cage leading the way.
Make no mistake, the plot of “The Retirement Plan” isn’t all that special. The film follows the story of a young mother and her daughter who are on the run from various bad guys because the mother stole something from criminals. That’s where Nicolas Cage comes in, as the young girl’s grandpa. And while he might look like a retiree with his long gray hair and scruffy beard, he’s also a retired assassin who is willing to murder all sorts of baddies if they come close to his family. But the real selling feature here is Nicolas Cage playing a man who is clearly meant to be in his late-60s/early-70s and beating the hell out of folks.
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Starring opposite Cage in the action film are Ashley Greene, Thalia Campbell, Jackie Earle Haley, Ron Perlman, and Ernie Hudson. “The Retirement Plan” is directed by Tim Brown.
“The Retirement Plan” arrives in select theaters on August 25. You can watch the trailer below.
Here’s the synopsis:
In the film, when Ashley (Ashley Greene) and her young daughter Sarah (Thalia Campbell) get mixed up with a criminal group putting their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help – her estranged father Matt (Nicolas Cage), currently living the life of a retired beach bumout in the Cayman Islands. Their reunion is fleeting as they are soon tracked down on the island by crime boss Donnie (Jackie Earle Haley) and his lieutenant Bobo (Ron Perlman). As Ashley, Sarah and Matt become even more entangled in an increasingly dangerous web, Ashley quickly learns her father had a secret past that she knew nothing about and that there is more to her father than meets the eye.
