With the recent trend in action heroes over 60 years old - Arnold in The Last Stand and Sly in Bullet to the Head - what’s the next logical step? Action heroes over 80.

Well, action is a strong word, but there are workout and training montages in Ping Pong, Hugh Hartford’s international documentary about the world of ping pong players who are over 80 years old and working toward the world championship in Mongolia.

Nearly the first half of the 80-minute film focuses on introducing the eight competitors that Ping Pong follows to the world championship. One of them checked herself into a nursing home and uses ping pong to combat dementia. Another is dying of cancer. With the exception of one, they’ve all been doing this a very long time.

The viewer is brought into the homes and communities of these senior sports stars, showing the support they receive and that there’s more to seniors than just doting on their grandchildren and mall walking. Naturally, not all of them will make it to the finals, and it’s sad to say goodbye when they fall out of the running.

Following adorable elderly people doing youthful things is a trend that began in docs with 2007’s Young@Heart, about a group of seniors who sing Sonic Youth and Coldplay songs in a choir.

Though the situation in Ping Pong isn’t quite as silly or fun, more so competitive, it still holds a few moments of levity. It’s always funny when someone asks an old person if they’re too old to do something and they respond with “I’m not that old.”

The reality of the problems holding back the competitors is the main thread in the film. One of the more interesting scenes shows a player who simply cannot remember if he’d played against one of his opponents. Hey, it’s been a long time.

The look of the film is your basic fly-on-the-wall doc with handheld camera and a few talking head and follow-behind interviews thrown in. Though the odd interview is laid over footage of action (or one athlete running through a fountain with children) the pacing of the film is natural - not slow, not fast, just right. Fitting, considering the subject matter.

Despite the fact that this writer spent most of the film hoping that Forrest Gump (hey, he’d be the right age by now) might show up and casually win the whole thing, it’s a great film about hope that makes us young people feel pretty darn lazy.