Movie Review - The Old Guard (2020)

Netflix has produced a variety of films in terms of genre. One of those genre have been the kind of action-adventure that used to be popular in the 1990's, the kind of action-adventure that is mostly cheap, run-and-gun narratives that are about a muscular or agile figure murdering a bunch of faceless bad guys or laying waste to people who are antagonists or supporting villainy. It's not as if Hollywood isn't making films like that any longer. The John Wick (2014) franchise is proof of that, but, much like westerns, it's a kind of genre that isn't big in the box office any more. It's not surprising that Charlize Theron is the star here because she's an actress that has paved the way for the return of the female action star. She is this generation's female action star.

There have been several of these 90's era-style, action flicks from Netflix just within the past year, including Triple Frontier (2019), 6 Underground (2019), Spenser Confidential (2020) and Extraction (2020). All of them have been headed by a male character. Netflix has been known for its diversity in representation, including gender diversity, but arguably was lacking in its female-led, action film. This entry is a course correction with not only a female-lead in front of the camera but also a female-lead behind the camera, that of director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights and Love & Basketball).

Charlize Theron (The Fate of the Furious and Mad Max: Fury Road) stars as Andy, a woman who seems to be the leader of a group of mercenaries who are hired to work for the CIA. The CIA has British connections, which don't make sense, but it reinforces that Andy and her team also have international connections. It's revealed though that she and her team of three guys are immortal. If you know comic book films, they all have the same power as Wolverine in X-Men (2000). She and her team don't age and they can't be killed. If they're injured, cut or shot, their bodies will rapidly heal or regenerate.

The kinds of injuries we see are either cuts, stabbings or bullet wounds. There is even a drowning that we see. However, we don't see other extremes like bombings, burning or decapitations. We don't know if Andy could survive being blown up, burned to a crisp or being decapitated. It would be curious if she could survive being frozen like with liquid nitrogen or something. The X-Men films did show the extremes of what Wolverine could survive. This film doesn't go to those extremes, either for budgetary reasons or perhaps it's saving those extremes for sequels, which the ending of this film clearly sets up.

Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk and Native Son) co-stars as Nile Freeman, a U.S. Marine, serving in Afghanistan. She's the leader of an all-female unit in the Middle East. However, when she is seemingly killed by getting her throat cut but survives, Andy kidnaps Nile and recruits her into Andy's team of immortals. It's convenient that Nile wasn't blown up or shot up. If her resurrection had occurred after something like that, it would have alerted more people to her super-power. The way it's done though is convenient to keep it under some cover. Nile joining Andy's team means that she would have to abandon her family, which is the chief conflict for her.

When it comes to the driving force of this film or the world-building, it's actually not like X-Men. It's more in line with a Stephen King novel-turned-film like Firestarter (1984) or Doctor Sleep (2019). In X-Men, people with super-powers are more widespread and those people were seen as a discriminated minority. In Stephen King-adapted films, people with super-powers are more rare, if only a handful. Those people are hunted by scientists who want to study and dissect them, or those people roam the Earth in secret. This film, written by Greg Rucka, adapting his own graphic novel, takes or borrows from Stephen King a lot in that regard.

In a lot of ways, Andy and her team are akin to vampires. I was reminded at time of Interview with the Vampire (1994), which also charts the existence of an immortal being through centuries. That 1994 classic is more a thriller or horror flick in that vampires need to kill and drink blood in order to survive. Andy and her team don't need blood to survive. Therefore, the difference between this film and that one is Interview with the Vampire is about needing death or murder in order to maintain life. The struggle was about fighting against death and murder. However, this film is about reveling in that kind of death as fuel for the action, which isn't new for action flicks like John Wick. This would be fine, if the action were amazing. Such was the case in Extraction or Theron's previous action film, Atomic Blonde (2017). Extraction and Atomic Blonde go out of their way through cinematography or choreography to really make it visually dazzling or intricate in some way. Prince-Bythewood doesn't have anything here that stands out like those aforementioned films do.

This film though like so many others pushes the idea that the solution to issues, even historical ones, is through muscle and military might, while villainizing scientists and those who would want to advance biological or medical science. This idea goes back to Stephen King and probably further. It wants to demonize a pharmaceutical company, which is a de rigueur thing to do. This is reflected in the depiction of its characters.

Andy is a character who has existed for millennia, for thousands of years, going back to the time of the Ancient Greeks. She even claims to have been worshiped as a God. Her atheistic stance in the present suggests that perhaps she has more knowledge of the time of Jesus than the rest, but, it's suggested that she was born a warrior and has always been one. It also suggests that all the members of her team were born warriors. Nile is herself a warrior, or a soldier in the U.S. Marines. There is a suggestion that there is some mystical element to their super-powers, which would put it more in line with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1997) and the titular character there is one that is meant to be a warrior but that was by design so that she could fight immortal demons. For all the characters here to be warriors makes no sense, other than the film wants to be an action film and needs them to be.

The same day that this film hit Netflix, Palm Springs (2020) also hit Hulu. That film also involved what could be considered immortal characters. In that film, a character takes that immortality as a way to expand the mind, learn science and technology, in order to discover more about what's happening. It's odd to think that Andy or any on her team wouldn't take that same opportunity to expand their minds in order to discover more about what's happening to them.

The end of the film does a Forrest Gump (1994) thing where we see Andy and her team inserted into black-and-white photographs throughout history. With the exception of one point in history, that of the Salem Witch Trials, the film doesn't really do much to give us any of the characters' perspectives or opinions about those various moments in time. Two of the members on Andy's team are gay. Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin and The Mummy) plays Joe and Luca Marinelli (Trust and The Great Beauty) plays Nicky. It would be interesting to get their perspective about being gay through the decades and centuries, as well as through various countries, which they could have done, given that Joe and Nicky were born during the Crusades. Joe was Muslim and Nicky was Christian. Yet, the film doesn't really delve into their experiences and how it's affected them or their outlook about homophobia through time.

Matthias Schoenaerts (The Mustang and Rust and Bone) rounds out the cast. We get a story from his history about losing his family, but I don't think otherwise the film provides a picture of what the days, months or years have been like for him.

Rated R for graphic violence and language.

Running Time: 2 hrs. and 5 mins.

Available on Netflix.