The Old Guard

At first glance Old Guard looked like a totally great action movie but it is quite the opposite. It is totally dumb starting with its premise, dominated by extremely unpleasant Charlize Theron but which has an unexpectedly quite solid fighting scenes. What can I say – Old Guard isn’t Mad Max for Charlize to behave in the same way to achieve a totally different result. (07/15/2020)

With cinemas closed, at least Netflix is spoiling us with higher-budget movies, even if it’s not great, in the current drought is it at least fine entertainment. Charlize Theron leads a group of immortal soldiers who have lived for centuries, but are now threatened with discovery and must do whatever it takes to preserve their identities. The film has pretty decent action, which though not as good as Extraction or 6 Underground, is pretty bloody and a few shots are memorable. There's a twist and the actors do their best. Some might be bothered by the fact that the film is very gender correct and not very clever, but that doesn't bother me that much. The only thing that bothered me was that the flashbacks didn't get more space, as if the film had been set during the Crusades or the time of the witch hunts, the rating would have been very different. I wouldn't mind a sequel. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere***, Suspense***. 6/10. (07/16/2020)

After Extraction, another big budget action movie with a big star. Unfortunately, this time behind the camera is not a former stuntman, but the director of the drama The Secret Life of Bees and the romance Love & Basketball. But enough, I'm not going to make fun of Gina Prince-Bythewood, she ironically deserves to be one of the few to be praised. At least a little. The action scenes aren't all bad, and while they lose out to today's cutting edge, they never turn into a confused mess. Otherwise, however, it's a dud. Although the plot revolves around a bunch of immortals who have been through the centuries, fought in various wars on every continent, and are depressed that all their loved ones have died, none of this is able to sell The Old Guard to the audience. And all the heartfelt outpourings about how they're alone in the world, immortality being a curse and all, get increasingly annoying as the runtime goes on, because there's not much else The Old Guard addresses. Sure, Charlize Theron is cool, and the rest of the team tries their best too, but it doesn't change the fact that more than any of the characters and their fate, I wondered when the curry on the stove would get finished. A minor league spectacle in every way. (07/12/2020)

Greg Rucka just reels off stories like this, one after the other. The Old Guard has excellent subject matter. The idea has potential, but the product doesn’t fully realize it. The action is fairly solid, but the music-video-style visuals are disappointing and the R&B soundtrack kills every other scene. Charlize looks great with an ax and, if they had focused more on the past, this could have turned out to be exceptionally good movie. As it stands, it is just a reasonably good TV movie that promises a more entertaining sequel. (07/11/2020)

If Charlize would kiss the pharmacist who treats her shoulder, this movie’s circle of bizarreness would be closed. The Old Guard is an odd mix of Bram Stoker’s existential motifs, almost parodically overwrought racial, gender and LGBT correctness, and every possible cliché of the action and sci-fi genres, all with excessive focus on the emotions and motivations of the characters, which is sometimes effective and sometimes silly. However, the result is still better and more cohesive than another recent Netflix team/buddy flick…you know, that one by Bay. (07/29/2020)