The Old Guard
Year: 2020
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Marian Kenzari, Kiki Layne, Luca Marinelli, Matthias Schoenaerts & Charlize Theron
Runtime: 125 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 12/07/20
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Starring: Marian Kenzari, Kiki Layne, Luca Marinelli, Matthias Schoenaerts & Charlize Theron
Runtime: 125 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 12/07/20
Netflix have done a pretty good job at keeping us entertained over the COVID-19 lockdown and their latest film, The Old Guard, is no exception though it certainly has a few problems. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez, The Old Guard follows a group of immortal humans as they initiate a new member into their ranks and also deal with the threat of being captured for medical experimentation.
Off the bat the film does a pretty good job at explaining the rules of how this immortality thing works…sort of. Andy, played by Charlize Theron, is thousands of years old and has spent her life recruiting immortal people like herself to contribute to the world in ways they believe to be worthwhile. Often the side of the battle they choose wins and as such they have shaped the course of history, hopefully for the better. Even though they are immortal they can still die, they do not know when, but one day they will just lose their powers and become mortal again. Over the years Andy has lost many friends and outlived them all, but her current team consists of Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan Kenzari), and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) whom she has lived and fought with for the last two hundred or so years at least. The group get set up and need to go on the run from a pharmaceuticals company, Merrick, who wants to use them as lab rats in order to try and extend the lifespan of humanity for profit, headed by Dudley Dursley himself Harry Melling. Meanwhile U.S. Marine Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne) is killed in active combat but makes a full recovery. Andy detects the presence of a new immortal so tracks her down and begins to show Nile the ropes.
Off the bat the film does a pretty good job at explaining the rules of how this immortality thing works…sort of. Andy, played by Charlize Theron, is thousands of years old and has spent her life recruiting immortal people like herself to contribute to the world in ways they believe to be worthwhile. Often the side of the battle they choose wins and as such they have shaped the course of history, hopefully for the better. Even though they are immortal they can still die, they do not know when, but one day they will just lose their powers and become mortal again. Over the years Andy has lost many friends and outlived them all, but her current team consists of Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Joe (Marwan Kenzari), and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) whom she has lived and fought with for the last two hundred or so years at least. The group get set up and need to go on the run from a pharmaceuticals company, Merrick, who wants to use them as lab rats in order to try and extend the lifespan of humanity for profit, headed by Dudley Dursley himself Harry Melling. Meanwhile U.S. Marine Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne) is killed in active combat but makes a full recovery. Andy detects the presence of a new immortal so tracks her down and begins to show Nile the ropes.
Honestly the whole narrative of Nile dealing with the idea that she cannot die and the implications of that is far more gripping than the story that ultimately takes centre stage with Merrick and the experimentation. The best scenes in the film were the ones where characters were in deep philosophical thought about their immortality, why they have it, what it means, and what the implications of it are. Unfortunately, though the film often strays into John Wick imitation territory and throws in a bunch of tightly choreographed but ultimately poorly shot action sequences. These probably could have looked quite nice if it hadn’t been filmed by someone who couldn’t understand that zooming in and shaking a camera does not produce a good image. The film is also hampered by a frankly pretty terrible soundtrack. Now whilst it’s not exactly bad music, it’s just bad choices and almost every major moment in the film has a song with lyrics in it which really distracts from the moment at hand. It even manages to mask some of the dialogue at times which is just very sloppy.
I’ve had very little good to say so far, but rest assured the performances are generally pretty great. It’s awesome to see Charlize Theron back in an ass kicking role because she always does them so well. Kiki Layne is also pretty convincing as Nile, but it would have been nicer to see more time spent on her coming to terms with her immortality. Melling as Merrick is perhaps the only performance that I’m not too keen on, but it’s not so much to do with how he portrays the character but the character himself. It occasionally borders on moustache twirling villainy and I was half expecting him to break out into a maniacal evil genius laugh at one point. Part of it is the fact that villain is written so cartoonishly, and part of the problem is Melling does push the performance a little too far at times and ultimately it makes it feel like he came straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The Old Guard is a run of the mill action flick that certainly has moments of greatness, but they are hampered by just as many moments that fall flat. It sets up a sequel and I feel that this is a solid start for Netflix to bank on a series of films that I would gladly look forward to and watch. But I hope that future instalments fix the glaring issues that the first film has to truly showcase just how much of a great idea The Old Guard truly is.
I’ve had very little good to say so far, but rest assured the performances are generally pretty great. It’s awesome to see Charlize Theron back in an ass kicking role because she always does them so well. Kiki Layne is also pretty convincing as Nile, but it would have been nicer to see more time spent on her coming to terms with her immortality. Melling as Merrick is perhaps the only performance that I’m not too keen on, but it’s not so much to do with how he portrays the character but the character himself. It occasionally borders on moustache twirling villainy and I was half expecting him to break out into a maniacal evil genius laugh at one point. Part of it is the fact that villain is written so cartoonishly, and part of the problem is Melling does push the performance a little too far at times and ultimately it makes it feel like he came straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The Old Guard is a run of the mill action flick that certainly has moments of greatness, but they are hampered by just as many moments that fall flat. It sets up a sequel and I feel that this is a solid start for Netflix to bank on a series of films that I would gladly look forward to and watch. But I hope that future instalments fix the glaring issues that the first film has to truly showcase just how much of a great idea The Old Guard truly is.