TV Review: Too Old To Die Young

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Synopsis: Follows a grieving police officer who, along with the man who shot his partner, finds himself in an underworld filled with working-class hit men, Yakuza soldiers, cartel assassins sent from Mexico, Russian mafia captains and gangs of teenage killers.

Review: The films of Nicolas Winding Refn have always been divisive. The director of THE NEON DEMON, ONLY GOD FORGIVES, DRIVE, BRONSON and PUSHER has always treated sexuality and violence as opposites yet intrinsically connected. With each successive movie he makes, Refn's visual style becomes more focused and more lyrical while delving deeper into the depths of human depravity. When he is given a canvas of a TV season, you can imagine just how far he will go when editing within the confines of a two hour runtime is out the window. The resulting project, Too Old To Die Young, is the closest thing Refn has made to the works of David Lynch and will absolutely test the patience (and stomachs) of viewers.

What makes reviewing Too Old To Die Young especially challenging is the fact that Amazon Prime only released the fourth and fifth episodes of the series. These were the same episodes shown out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival and, in and of themselves, they work almost like a two hour film. But, getting only the middle part of a ten episode season makes it difficult to understand narratively how the characters have gotten to the point we find them. Luckily, this is a Nicolas Winding Refn project which means comprehension is secondary to experiencing what is on screen. And Too Old To Die Young is absolutely an experience, albeit a challenging one.

The story, as much as can be gathered from these episodes, is that Teller plays a cop named Martin who becomes a hitman, killing the worst of the worst as penance for prior crimes. Under the tutelage of Viggo (John Hawkes) who is in some sort of crime syndicate/cult led by Diana (Jena Malone), Martin embarks on jobs to redeem himself so he can get back to his young girlfriend Janey (Nell Tiger Free) whose father (Billy Baldwin) is some sort of bad guy himself. Along the way, Martin's path crosses with gangster, Japanese yakuza, pornographers, and more. In the two episodes I saw, the story follows Martin as one case comes to a close and another begins. The narrative goes from violent, to slow and lyrical, to a lot of dialogue-free exposition, followed by some graphic sex, and then a car chase sequence that is very different than the kind we saw in DRIVE. All together, the two episodes kind of work like a movie but it is challenging to determine how it fits into the full season narrative. Will this story have a true arc? Will it feel like an extended feature film? Or will it simply be a collection of loosely connected vignettes?

Refn has never been more abstract or surreal in any of his previous projects as he is with Too Old To Die Young. Likely due to the fact that he has the equivalent running time of five feature films to tell his story, this series is so deliberately paced that every shot lingers a little longer than it should, creating a feeling of unease in the viewer. The eight minute opening sequence of the fifth episode builds to a crescendo of sexual violence (not shown on screen) that you can sense coming but Refn drags it out so much that it borders on being uncomfortable to watch. Every performance feels like it is in slow motion, especially scenes featuring Miles Teller. Teller is a talented actor but here is echoing the stoic and expressionless performance of Ryan Gosling from DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES.

While the writing may be questionable (the series was scripted by Refn alongside legendary Batman and Captain America writer Ed Brubaker) in that some of the dialogue is either heavy-handed or overly poetic in nature, the visuals are astounding and striking as one would expect from Refn. If you were to pause any episode at any point, odds are you have an image worthy of being framed and hung on a museum wall. There is no doubt that Refn's eye is one of the most brilliant working in Hollywood today. The score by longtime Refn collaborator Cliff Martinez is the perfect catalyst for everything from tension and action to more subtle and quiet moments. The music is never intrusive but pumps up every scene that needs it. The problem with this series is that it may be too indulgent which leaves it feeling somewhat disconnected. Or, that could be due to watching these episodes out of context. What is readily apparent is that Refn will never pull punches when it comes to on screen violence or taboo subject matter of any kind. Too Old To Die Young is absolutely not for the squeamish.

Episodes four and five, titled "North of Hollywood" and "West of Hell", work well as a standalone feature despite not giving us the narrative setup of who these characters are or how they got there. Still, the sampling of what Refn's full story will be is teased here and it is a violent and deliberate story of penance and justice. I will stand by my comparison of this to the works of David Lynch which means Too Old To Die Young will absolutely not be for everybody, but it is some of the best visual work Nicolas Winding Refn has done to date. The final chase sequence of episode five, set to Barry Manilow's "Mandy", ranks as some of the director's best work of all time. From the pulsating score to the beautiful lensing, Too Old To Die Young is a challenge to sit through but ultimately a unique one.

Too Old To Die Young premieres on Amazon Prime on June 14th.