Mark Battle’s “Old Man 2” is high enjoyment. Written and directed by Battle, the film is a clear homage to B-films, despite its decent production value and acting. This feels like it wants to be a B-movie; but you’ll find yourself so quickly falling for its lead character, Buster, that descriptions like this are moot. The action is campy and sometimes the plotting is obvious. Yet Buster—at the hands of John Mason—is a high class action hero. He’s like if Robert Downey Jr.’s character from “Tropic Thunder” and Schwarzenegger’s character from “Commando” had a baby—except that baby was also an escaped nursing home patient. Just go with it, because Battle’s short film is worth the effort.
Battle told me that seeing “Old Man” part 1 was not a prerequisite to watch this film. I don’t know if he’s right, but I liked opening up to Mason’s old man strapped to the neck in explosives, detonating them after lighting a cigarette, and then landing in a dumpster god knows how far away without knowing what led to these proceedings. This part of the 42-minute short is labelled as “10 years ago,” and Mason carries his character to charming lengths with his gruff, terse military speak and handlebar mustache. Spoiler: he’s captured at the end of “Old Man 2’s” opening by one of a handful of certified nursing aides (CNAs), shot with some blue liquid that no doubt answers for a tranquilizer.
Scarce Plot, Big Laughs
The “plot” of “Old Man 2” is scant, as Buster—nicknamed ‘Resident 0911’ by the nursing home and evil Dr. Radley (Fabio Falorni)—wages war and searches for ‘Doc,’ an old war buddy. Doc likes to cut people open to heal them (he’s a field medic), and Buster likes to open them up to hurt them. How do we know this? It’s because Buster tells us this right before plunging a knife into the chest of a CNA, rooting around before removing his heart. The practical effects are actually rather good, and I was amazed that I found myself laughing rather than feeling the horror of the whole thing.
Yet, we feel Buster’s mission—and root for him and laugh accordingly—due to the viciousness of the CNAs and the wannabe sadism of Dr. Radley. The cast of CNAs are Evan Thuotte, Steve Cleary, Laura Cleary, and Tom Wolfendale and are clearly enjoying their roles. As is Jeremy Bergson, who plays the “Robocop” rip-off CNA-5000, a half-man/half-machine nurses aide who has a targeting system and a tranquilizer-shooting pistol. The rest of the lot throws them expertly like throwing knives, and the way they’re so good with them—and the way Buster is not all that good at avoiding them—makes us align with him even more. Maybe Buster’s insane. Maybe he’s a senile old man. Or, just maybe, he’s actually a prisoner who has finally escaped to find his friend and exact revenge. It doesn’t matter. I’d follow Buster to hell is he asked me to.
An Homage to the B-movie
In a review from Richard Propes of The Independent Critic, Battle stated he set out to make a film of “hilariously bad acting and B-movie madness.” And while “Old Man 2” is hilariously a B-movie, the acting is not bad. All the actors—but chiefly Mason—are competent, and feel like decent actors trying their best bad actor impression rather than actually being bad actors. It just makes the film all the funnier and all the more endearing. Between Mason’s grunt, military threats and affirmations to the CNAs deadpan stoicism—the whole thing just works.
The action sequences are equally great, and Battle clearly knows what he’s doing by panning away to take the onus off the limited budget special effects (note: Battle is also the film’s cinematographer). A sequence with a Buster setting traps for various CNAs is rightly hilarious, while a showdown with the CNA-5000 at the film’s near end is more tense than it ought to be. You want Buster to succeed—even if he’s mad—and Mason gives him a personality that’s palpable. Was this guy in Vietnam with ‘Doc?’ Who knows. I think it’s better off not knowing and just following “Old Man 2” down its ludicrous insanity.
John Mason Delivers
I loved this film. I now plan to seek out “Old Man” part 1 and give it a watch, enticed by the that fact Battle produced it 15 years ago. And it’s great to see that Battle—who crafted one of my favorite indie suspense thrillers to date in “The Guard” is able to switch genres so easily. “Old Man 2” is a high recommend for lovers of indie film or parodies. The title credits promise a part 3 continuation and I can’t wait to see Buster go at it once again.
“Old Man 2” will be submitted to film festivals in the near future. You can watch the trailer here. You can also watch the full-length film by clicking here.
