The Retirement Plan is written and directed by Tim Brown, and it seems like he wanted to harp upon the aura of Nicolas Cage that has been created by social media and allow it to do all the heavy lifting. You will be disappointed if you are looking for an engaging narrative that revolves around a retired spy agent, and in addition to that, you will also be let down if you are expecting this film to be something similar to what we witnessed in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
We didn’t understand till the end of the film whether we wanted to take it seriously or if the makers wanted to create a lighthearted comedy because The Retirement Plan wasn’t able to do any of them. We can say that Nicholas Cage is enchanting, and whenever he is on screen, he is able to pull off something that mildly entertains you. Apart from that, there is nothing in this film that is worth watching. So let’s find out what Nicolas Cage, who apparently has two names in The Retirement Plan, is up to and if he is able to save the day or not.
Spoiler Alert
Was Donnie able to get the drive?
At the beginning of The Retirement Plan, we see that Jimmy comes out of a building, and he asks his wife, Ashley, to immediately start the car and escape from there. Jimmy had stolen a drive from his boss, Donnie, and now an entire army was looking for him as that drive had some very important details that could potentially change the entire dynamics of things. Jimmy knew that he wouldn’t be able to run away, and in order to protect his family, he would have to stay back and turn himself in. He asked Ashley to leave with their 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, and to go to the Cayman Islands, where Ashley’s father used to live. Jimmy was caught by Donnie’s men, and even Ashley was very unfortunate, as that day, there was only one spot left on the plane that was leaving for the Cayman Islands. So Ashley bought the last ticket and sent her daughter on it and told her that she would be coming as soon as she got another flight, but before that could happen, Donnie’s men found Ashley and took her back to the den to be interrogated. Ashley told Donnie that the computer drive was in the Cayman Islands, and so Donnie ordered his men to take Ashley there and see if she was speaking the truth.
At that point in time in The Retirement Plan, even Ashley didn’t know who her father actually was. She hadn’t been in touch with him for a long time. Ashley’s father, who went by two names, Jim Benton and Matt Robinson, hadn’t been a very good father to Ashley, and his work kept him away from the family most of the time. Ashley had a lot of grievances against him, but she went to the Cayman Islands, as at that moment, she didn’t know what she should do other than hand over the drive to Bobo and the General, who were Donnie’s right-hand men. What Ashley didn’t know was that it would be a blessing in disguise for her, as her father was a ruthless assassin back in the day who worked for the government. Her father killed the general, but Bobo was able to escape in the same truck in which Sarah, Ashley’s daughter, was hiding. Donnie wasn’t able to procure the drive, so he sent more people to take down the old man as he believed that it would be an easy task for his top men. But Matt was able to get the better of them, and together with Ashley, he once again escaped from there.
Who was Hector Garcia’s informant?
Matt called Drisdale, his contact in the government intelligence agency, and that’s when he came to know that Donnie was only a pawn and the actual reins were being pulled by a deadly criminal named Hector Garcia. Hector was involved in all sorts of crimes, and she was in desperate need of whatever information was there in the drive. She had told Donnie that he would have to get the drive at all costs, as otherwise, she wouldn’t spare his life. Drisdale, for the longest time in The Retirement Plan, wasn’t able to understand how Hector always stayed a step ahead of them. She knew that there was a possibility that somebody from her agency was leaking information to her, but she wasn’t able to find out who it was. Of late, she had her doubts about her colleague, Fitzsimmons, and she was trying to get some sort of evidence that could prove that her speculations were right. After the drive got stolen, Hector started calling her contact inside the agency quite frequently, and that’s when Drisdale came to know that Fitzsimons was actually the snitch and that he had been giving information about each and every move they made to Hector, which is why she was always able to escape the clutches of the law and turn the outcome in her favor.
Is Matt able to save his family from Hector Garcia?
Donnie had been able to abduct Ashley and Sarah once again, and he took them straight to Hector’s house. Drisdale, this time while deceiving Fitzsimmons, and she made sure that Matt was given all the weapons that he needed to take down Hector. She made sure that there was a power cut at Hector’s house so that Matt would get a chance to enter her fortress and kill the criminals one by one.
During The Retirement Plan‘s ending, we came to know that Donnie wanted to betray Hector for the longest time, and once he got the drive, he himself shot the underworld boss, believing that now he would get to run the cartel. But just then, Drisdale and Fitzsimmons also arrived at the scene, and they shot Donnie. Fitzsimmons thought that nobody would have come to know about him being the informant as now Hector was dead, but Drisdale shot and killed him there and then. Christopher also came to the scene, and he told Matt why he so desperately needed the drive. He was running for Governor of the state of Florida, and he knew that the information in the drive could give him a lot of leverage. In addition to that, he also knew that being able to tell people that he had eliminated one of the most wanted criminals would boost his vote bank. Matt had been used by Christopher and Drisdale, but at least his family was safe, and Christopher had also promised him that they would be taken care of.
Matt went back to the Cayman Islands, and probably, he would once again come back to the helm of affairs when the need arose or if his family needed him. Until then, he was going to enjoy his time there and wait until life threw another adventure at him, and once again the need arose for him to go all guns blazing.
