The Old Guard is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on his comic book of the same name. A team of Immortal Mercenaries discovers a new immortal as well as an evil Pharma corporate on their back.
On paper, this movie looks good. A team Wolverine/Deadpools dying and standing on their feet again and fighting off bad guys. But unfortunately, this film lacks the energy to makes things exciting. The word “fun” is lacking from a comic book-based film that deals with immortal mercenaries. But the long fight scenes, gunfights make up for the repetitive dialogues and expository filled script.
Charlize Theron did a good job with her character Andy, the oldest of the Immortals, who lost her faith from humanity and becomes a mentor to the recently found Nile. Theron became a bonafide action star after Mad Max Fury Road and Atomic Blonde and this film also adds another credit to that image.
Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker), Marwan Kenzari (Joe), and Luca Marinelli (Nicky), the 3 men of the team does justice to their character. The bad parts of the cast are Kiki Layne who plays Nile, often looks bland and confused, since her performance was commendable in If Beale Street could talk.
Chiwetel Ejiofor is wasted in a role that could have been played by anyone, not of his charisma. Sorry Mordo, you deserve better. The bad guy of the film, pretty generic corporate villain is played by Harry Melling (Dudley Dursley of Harry Potter) does a forgettable job.
Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed some episodes of Marvel TV series Cloak and Dagger knows how to handle a comic book property but takes too much time to establish the mythology. Overall, The Old Guard has some good performances, decent action but is let down by its pacing, murky cinematography, and lacks an interesting villain, or characters to care about.
The Old Guard Cast
- Charlize Theron as Andy of Scythia
- KiKi Layne as Nile Freeman, a former US Marine who served in Afghanistan
- Matthias Schoenaerts as Booker / Sebastian Le Livre, once a French soldier who fought under Napoleon
- Marwan Kenzari as Joe / Yusuf Al-Kaysani, a Muslim warrior who had participated in the Crusades, as well as Nicky’s lover
- Luca Marinelli as Nicky, a former Crusader. He and Joe started off as enemies, but became lovers after discovering their immortality
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as James Copley, former CIA agent grieving the loss of his wife from ALS
- Harry Melling as Steven Merrick, greedy CEO of a pharmaceutical empire
- Van Veronica Ngo as Quynh
- Anamaria Marinca as Dr. Meta Kozak
- Joey Ansah as Keane
The Old Guard Netflix Trailer
The Old Guard is currently available to stream on Netflix. If you have already watched the movie then let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
