Written by Greg Rucka
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
Joe (re Nicky): "You're a child. An infant. Your mocking is thus infantile. He's not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream. He's the moon when I'm lost in darkness and warmth when I shiver in cold. And his kiss still thrills me, even after a millennia. His heart overflows with the kindness of which this world is not worth of. I love this man beyond measure and reason. He's not my boyfriend. He's all and he's more."
Another month, another new movie to hit Netflix and while I should more of their original movies, this was one that had my attention for a few reasons. One being lead actor Charlize Theron proving yet again that she's a bonafide action star as well as an incredible award winning actor and of course, the general premise itself.
Based off a comic book series of the same title from writer Greg Rucka, this movie focused on a group of immortal warriors - Andromache "Andy" of Scythia (Theron), Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), Yusef/Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) as their existence has finally caught up with them and the wrong people are looking for them, all thanks to a misjudged pairing with former CIA Operative Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who's working for the big bad of this movie.
The big bad being of course an irritatingly smug young pharma CEO named Steve Merrick (Harry Melling) whose goal for this movie would be study the gene pool of these immortal warriors, find out their secrets to their prolonged life and make a profit of it as best as possible. It's because of this simplicity that Merrick makes for a rather one dimensional and unengaging villain in another delightful action based movie.
By the time Merrick's comeuppance comes, it's less satisfying and more of a relief, although there was a part of me that feared he might have survived that particular. Then there was the turnaround as such with Copley who went from being the one to out Andy and her gang to now becoming the guy who has to work to keep their existence a secret as they pick the right missions to work on here.
While the main villain plot was a bit too simplistic for it's own good, it did serve a purpose to cause friction within the group as Booker turned out to be the traitor and was exiled from the gang. Don't worry though, there's a stinger that pretty much means he won't have to wait a century to see Andy and company again. That and the fact that a sequel will very likely happen too.
As for Andy herself - Charlize Theron yet again proves that she's an all rounder here. Andy's backstory along with the hints of her immortality beginning to falter are handled excellently as well as her mentoring and bonding with new member, Nile (Kiki Layne). Nile served as a way to really step into the world and ask the needed questions to the group while also demonstrating her own smarts and earning her place during the major third act fights.
Then there's Joe and Nicky. I'm not gonna lie, they were the big selling point for me with this movie and if you wanted proof that you can have compelling gay couple in the midst of an action flick, this movie really proves that point so well. They're the big love story here (although there's hints of a past romance between Andy and the not so dead Quynh, as played by Van Veronica Ngo) and it's beautifully handled from start to finish, hence the quote I selected for this review emphasising that all the more.
The lore itself with this property has also been given some decent screen time too. We learned where Booker, Joe and Nicky were picked up from while hints were given about Andy's long lived life and of course, we also had the flashbacks with Quynh and Lykon (Micheal Ward). It's a gripping world that I definitely want to see more of and going by the hype, one I think I will be seeing too.
- Andy is speculated be over 2000 years old but Booker was discovered in 1812 and Joe and Nicky originally met and killed each other during the Crusades before falling in love with each other.
- The Immortals are born from non immortal families and have non immortal children themselves as Booker told Nile about the children he lost.
- Standout music: Frank Ocean's Godspeed, Madaline Duke's Born Alone, Die Alone and Elle King's Baby Outlaw.
- Chronology: April 2019 as the movie took in Sudan, France, UK, Morocco and Afghanistan in terms of locations.
The Old Guard on one hand definitely feels like a very typical comic book/action piece and while it's main villain easily lets things down, the dynamic characters and cast really elevate into something far more interesting than expected. I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix commissions a sequel to this very promising franchise. I definitely want to get to know more of these Immortals.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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