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The Baker--The Substitute. The Limey. The Accountant. The Commuter. Here's another entry in that category of action film in which a mature guy with an ineffectual-sounding moniker turns out to be a secret badass. They're profitable fantasy fulfillment for us frustrated old guys.

The badass in question this time is Ron Perlman, a PTSD sufferer who runs a bakery in a gorgeous coastal area (the movie was shot in the Cayman Islands). When his son (Joel David Moore) runs afoul of gangsters, led by conscience-tortured Elias Koteas, led in turn by not-so-tortured Harvey Keitel, The Baker ends up with custody of his beautiful, unicorn-loving 8-year-old granddaughter (Emma Ho), who is also traumatized and doesn't speak. He also finds himself, reluctantly, in possession of a valuable drug stash which the thugs want back. 

With its laboriously contrived set-up, it takes a long time for this movie, directed by Jonathan Sobol from a script by Paolo Mancini and Thomas Michael, to get going, and the violent story is told so elliptically that exactly what's going on is a bit unclear at times. But at the center of it is Perlman, who started his movie career in 1981 as a caveman in Quest for Fire and whose lantern-jawed, soulful face has been enlivening movies and TV shows ever since in roles large and small. He played Hellboy, of course, but even so leading man roles in movies have been rare in Perlman's career, and it's cool to see how effectively he brings this one more gravitas, and more warmth, than it really deserves.

His gruff rapport with his granddaughter is endearing, even though the kid is glamorized almost to the point of Natalie Portman in The Professional. Indeed, the whole film has a vaguely Gallic feel, like an abandoned Luc Besson project. At one point The Baker even reminisces about taking his son mushroom hunting! Perlman underplays this short monologue simply and touchingly.

Also to the movie's credit: It prominently features Iggy Pop's "The Passenger." And, in case you were wondering: yes, at one point a rolling pin does come into play.