Nicolas Cage Gets His Own John Wick In Crazy Crime Thriller
I started to get the shakes and sweats yesterday because it had been almost a full week since I watched a Nicolas Cage movie, but The Retirement Plan saved the day and nursed me back to health. By now, I’ve seen more than most of Cage’s films but less than all of them, and this is one title that slipped past my radar when it was released late last year. My only regret about watching The Retirement Plan is that I didn’t watch it sooner because it’s a total popcorn flick that executes every single action comedy trope flawlessly but also has a body count that would make John Wick blush.
Nicolas Cage As A Vengeful Beach Bum
The Retirement Plan is equal parts “coming out of retirement for one last job” and “you messed with my family, so now you will feel my wrath.” Nicolas Cage takes center stage as a retired beach bum living in the Cayman Islands who has an unassuming and mysterious past that makes him a highly skilled assassin. I have a tendency to rail against this kind of movie because this kind of premise is so overdone, but in this case, I can’t fault The Retirement Plan because it knows exactly what kind of movie it is and shamelessly wears its influences on its sleeve to the point of ridiculousness.
One Last Job To Protect His Family
To first understand where Nicolas Cage falls into the mix in The Retirement Plan, we need to talk about the film’s setup. We’re first introduced to Ashley (Ashley Greene) and her husband, Jimmy (Jordan Johnson-Hinds), who are making a daring escape after a heist gone wrong. Jimmy stole a very important flash drive from a crime boss named Donnie, and he gets captured by Donnie’s henchmen.
Ashley knows that her life and the life of her daughter, Sarah (Thalia Campbell), are in grave danger, and she has to act fast. Ashley purchases a plane ticket to the Cayman Islands where her estranged father, Matt (Nicolas Cage) lives, and sends Sarah to go live with him with the flash drive hidden in her backpack. The Retirement Plan kicks into high gear when Donnie sends two of his best men, Bobo (Ron Perlman) and “The General” (Ronnie James Hughes), to track down Sarah and retrieve the flash drive.
Nicolas Cage Is A Ruthless Killing Machine
After its initial setup, The Retirement Plan becomes a straight-up action movie in which Nicolas Cage’s Matt realizes what’s at stake. Matt, who’s always nursing a stiff drink like The Dude from The Big Lebowski, has to return to his past life as a ruthless killing machine who only abandoned his family because of the nature of his work, which forced him into early retirement. He reconnects with his old partner, Joseph (Ernie Hudson), to track down Sarah, who has been kidnapped by Bobo.
An Action Comedy
As violent as The Retirement Plan may be, it’s more of a comedy of errors than anything else. As the story progresses, we learn how many high-level criminals are looking for the flash drive and how incompetent they are in this Nicolas Cage film when they realize who they’re dealing with. Between the gunplay and henchmen getting thrown off of balconies to their deaths, there’s a substantial amount of father and daughter bickering between Matt and Ashley when Ashley makes it to the Cayman Islands herself in her search for Sarah.
Streaming On Hulu
REVIEW SCORE
What I love most about The Retirement Plan is its level of self-awareness. There’s even one part when Ernie Hudson‘s character even says “This is the part of the movie when…” as if he knows that himself and Nicolas Cage are simply playing heightened versions of their own real-life personas while chaos ensues.
If you’re looking for an action movie that understands the importance of pacing and knows exactly when to throw in a healthy amount of comic relief, then Nicolas Cage’s The Retirement Plan is 100 percent worthy of your attention. I’d personally describe it as a cross between The Big Lebowski and the John Wick movies, but with enough of its own charm to be its own thing. You can stream The Retirement Plan on Hulu if you want to find out what’s on the flash drive.
