After watching The Old Guard I can safely say that if Charlize Theron stepped on me, I would say thank you...
The latest Netflix Original movie, The Old Guard, depicts a group of immortal warriors being hunted for their supernatural powers just as they discover another like them. Due to a likable cast and awesome action sequences, the film delivers on this interesting premise, and then some.
As with many studios in modern Hollywood, Netflix is no stranger to adapting books, comics, and everything in between into brand new shows and movies for us to binge. The Old Guard is the latest of those such adaptations being based on a graphic novel of the same name written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez. It is nice to know that Netflix can still choose good things to base new content off interesting concepts rather than some of the abysmal stuff they have been churning out recently (Yes I am exclusively looking at you 365 Days).
The reason why The Old Guard works so well isn't the action, which is amazing and deserves all the praise it gets, but the characters and how the actors bring them to life
Unlike many action movies at the moment, the characters were actually fleshed out and I grew attached to them over the course of the film. Despite them being immortal I didn't want them to get hurt which goes to show how well these characters are written, as in most films of this genre I don't care if they get hurt even when they can die.
Charlize Theron is as much of a badass in this as she was in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) as Furiosa and is a highlight of the film. But this isn't just a one-woman band as the rest of the immortals are just as interesting. My favourites were Joe and Nicky, played by Marwan Kenzari (Alladin) and Luca Marinelli (They call me Jeeg) respectively, two of the immortals who have been a couple for countless years. Not only are they both likeable and have great chemistry together, but they also wipe the floor with casual homophobia in what is arguably the best scene of the entire movie.
One of the only weak points for the film had to be the soundtrack. While at times it did seem to work, more than once I felt myself being pulled out of the experience by weird music choices that didn't really fit the scene. Let's just hope they fix this for the eventual sequence.
Overall, I think The Old Guard is a great action film with an awesome and diverse cast that you don't have to think too hard about to enjoy.
Featured image: Flikr (Kisiler)