The Old Guy (2023)

"I'm old, but I'm not dead yet!"

The Comeback is an old school violent film with old school actors. Even the young guy, Andy On, was pushing 50! Best not to look too closely at the uneven script and just enjoy it for the mindless action film it was.

Mr. Hua runs an antique shop on an old street and takes care of everyone. He’s especially close to Sister Zhen who works at the orphanage and one of her charges, Xiaoye. Officer Qiang looks up to him and has his back whenever he needs it. Hua dutifully brings homeless Old Cao who lives in his vehicle food every day. A gang wants to demolish the street for developers and has been intimidating people into signing away their property. But these guys are pesky demons compared to the devils coming to town. Hua who has suffered from amnesia the last three years has forgotten his previous profession and the reason he has 21 scars on his body and a nail in his brain. The bad guys are going to be in trouble when he remembers his particular skill set.

The story took too long to gain traction, especially since the audience already knew what caused Hua’s amnesia. The gang who wanted to demolish the neighborhood wasn’t set up very well either. Suddenly, the big bads arrived, relegating the gang to the back burner as they began kicking up the body count in search of a USB. Numerous cops moved in on Officer Qiang’s territory convinced Hua was the prime suspect for something and then everything. Because of the amnesia trope there were also numerous flashbacks. A simple story was made more complicated than it needed to be. Regardless, Simon Yam and Yuen Wah working together was a delight. Simon at 68 and Yuen at 73 showed how old school charisma can cover over a multitude of sins. Sixty-eight-year-old Norman Chu also made an appearance. Andy On conveyed enough menace to be a proper traitorous villain.

The Comeback provided plenty of things that go bang in the night---weaponized drones, guns, bombs, missiles, and a weaponized motorcycle. I was happy to see Yuen Wah have a short fight scene. He was one of the more skilled martial arts experts in old kung fu films. They worked around Simon’s age in a couple of different ways during his hand-to-hand encounters which worked fairly well.

As uneven as the writing was, The Comeback was entertaining and had some heart. It didn’t offer anything unique but it served up a heaping helping of action scenes showcasing older actors aging to perfection.

12 March 2024

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