Too Old to Die Young

This is a story about sexual violence and the misogynist spectacle is uncomfortable, although arguably part of the point. It could be that Jena Malone, glimpsed here at any early stage, will have a greater part to play. Too Old To Die Young is macabre, and nauseating in many ways, but very well made and very watchable.

Scenes go on FOREVER, to the point that they either become mesmerizing or stultifying. I fell more on the former side but wouldn’t question anyone who considers this the dullest thing streaming this year. ... All of this means that “Too Old to Die Young” is unlike anything else you’ll see on TV this year. Television is still largely a writer’s medium, and so it’s fascinating to see something that is so clearly and distinctly the product of a director’s unique vision. [Prime Video only screened episodes 4 and 5]

A series that doesn’t seem as deep as it thinks it is. ... Refn directs his actors to deliver their lines in a deliberate and often unnatural rhythm. The cast occasionally circumvents this aesthetic, especially during emotionally charged moments, but Refn and his longtime editor Matthew Newman often have scenes breathe for excruciatingly long times. [Prime Video only screened episodes 4 and 5]

Viewed as a single unit, the episodes were a mixed bag of self-serious storytelling and pulpy action, with whispery exchanges that drag on for minutes at a time, set against Refn’s standard subterranean vision of an ominous modern-day Los Angeles. [Prime Video only screened episodes 4 and 5]

[A] limping, baggy megillah, which fails to justify its marathon-length running time as anything more than a self-satisfying, hardboiled-by-numbers folly.

Stylishly crafted but stultifyingly dull. ... Jesus had better be some kind of savior if Too Old to Die Young is going to be more than just a ponderously portentous sleazefest shaken out of its torpor by the occasional bloodbath. [Prime Video only screened episodes 4 and 5]