The Old Man, remorse and revenge at the end of the journey [Preview]

The Old Man

Time is a tireless companion, capable of being a friendly presence that cloaks the best moments of our existence with nostalgia, or a ruthless judge of past choices, ready to confront the consequences of our decisions. This inexorable truth seems to be the vital spark of The Old Man, a series branded FX and presented in Italy on Disney Plus, in which the specter of the past transforms the last years of an apparently peaceful man with several, too many springs behind him in his rendition of final accounts. A series that, mistakenly, could be considered far from the narrative traditions of the entertainment giant, but the birth of a streaming service like Disney + has shown that it has to go beyond this paradigm, exploiting the presence in its schedule of productions linked to other properties of the brand, a possibility that has made it possible to include experiences related to a more varied and engaging use of streaming entertainment in the catalog. The first four episodes of The Old Man, which we were able to preview, seem to confirm the lucidity of this evolution of the Disney streaming service.

Subscribe now to Disney + for € 8.99 per month or € 89.90 per year In this respect, the plurality of channels within the Disney streaming service allows us not to limit ourselves to the production of content linked to the two best performing brands of the Mickey Mouse house, namely Star Wars and Marvel, but to address a heterogeneous audience, in look for profoundly different content. A far-sighted vision that has made it possible to enrich the Disney + offer with more concrete and biting stories, as we have been able to appreciate with In the name of the sky, and which with The Old Man seems to confirm the intention to make the streaming service a platform more and more welcoming.

The Old Man: the past that returns

In this evolution of the Disney + offer, The Old Man could represent one of the most important products, considered as the nature of a spy story substantially classic is reworked within a more mature emotional definition of the characters, able to allow themselves the right times to enhance that trait of regret and late showdown that accompanies the waning phase of the human condition. By adapting Thomas Perry's novel of the same name to the serial world, Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine show that they are once again able to chisel a complex but clearly perceptible inlay of emotions and interpersonal relationships that sustains the narrative, as they had previously shown in Black Sails. >

Jeff Bridges as Dan Chase in a still from ... The Old Man .... Dan Chase (Jeff Bridges) is a lonely man who, following the death of his wife, seems to have decided to leave the world. Retired to a cabin on the edge of the hill, Dan lives with two dogs, limiting himself to sporadic telephone contacts with his daughter, who tries to encourage his father not to withdraw excessively in himself. From the very first moments, one perceives how behind the gruff ways and the obvious sign of the passage of time there is a wounded soul, still suffering from the death of its beloved partner and which, perhaps as a reaction to the woman's illness, has developed a sort of emotional affliction that leads him to no longer feel fully in himself.


What we learned in the first part of the pilot of The Old Man is an example of shrewd writing, aimed at building an image of the protagonist that misleads the viewer, preparing to shock him with a series of revelations that rewrite the perception of the story itself. The peaceful Dan, in fact, soon reveals himself to be a former CIA operative, who disappeared from the radar years before, who now finds himself being hunted down by the agency, which has also recalled an old partner of his, Harold Harper (John Lithgow ), now a senior officer of the F.B.I. Unleashing this manhunt is yet another power play that animates the shadows of espionage, a lethal legacy of Dan's last mission, carried out thirty years ago, which now risks causing the destruction of the small world of this' old man '.

Espionage and repentance

Within such a series it is impossible not to show fight scenes, a requirement that forces Bridges to show an enviable form and a not indifferent prowess, considering that the seventy-two-year-old actor discovered in the middle of the production of the series the lymphonomist who kept him away from the set for months, who, although apparently clashing with the initial portrait of a man too mature, he does not fail to make up for the lack of youthful vigor with experience and the support of the two faithful dogs. A careful construction of the dynamism of the clashes, in which the physicality of the contenders is rendered by room games that best interpret the movement, inserting the clashes in conditions in which even the environment represents a weapon in the expert hands of the wrestlers. The Old Man aims to enhance in every aspect, including the martial one, the passing of Dan's years, succeeding in the not simple intent of making credible a series with an evident action nature starring a man on the threshold of old age.



The Old Man has the merit of having preserved its identity and a care in recreating this story capable of coping with the forced stop imposed by Bridges' health conditions. When the actor was diagnosed with a lymphoma, requiring him to undergo chemotherapy sessions, the production had to give up shooting in the Moroccan locations already set up, moving everything to the easier California. This break does not seem to have undermined the quality of the series, while Bridges' performance is even more commendable, considering that the actor has nevertheless faced scenes with a strong physical commitment despite his less-than-ideal physical conditions.

The first four episodes of the seven planned for The Old Man leave the feeling of a story that does not limit itself to presenting a spy plot, but also wants to offer a particular examination on dealing with the consequences of one's past, offering us characters who know how to convey conditions emotional, realistic and exciting, for a perfect portrait of an 'old man' last mission.

The Disney + offer

Disney + annual Disney + monthly 89.99 € / year 8 , 99 € / month SEE OFFER SEE OFFER