Directed By Gina Prince-Bythewood

Starring – Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts

The Plot – Led by a warrior named Andy (Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (Layne), the newest soldier to join their ranks, to help the group eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate and monetize their power by any means necessary.

Rated R for sequences of graphic violence, and adult language.

POSITIVES

– Suitable casting. One of the strongest elements to this film is its gifted ensemble, which really go above and beyond with investing as much of themselves into these roles that are, frankly, against type. In this regard, it’s great to see Schoenaerts, one of Hollywood’s best kept secrets, flexing some muscle in these highly physical scenes that truly test the grit of the actor. Chiwetel Ejiofor also pops up as an intentioned business head of sorts who simultaneously juggles power and empathy in a way that most antagonists simply can’t afford in superhero genre films. Without question however, this is Theron’s show for the taking. Through a barrage of ruthless brutality and Charlize’s signature gritty exterior, the movie carves out a protagonist who is every bit as badass as her decade-making turn as Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road”, all the while preserving an ounce of fear from the character that I truly wasn’t expecting based on her enhanced gifts. It outlines the constant professional that she is in every role she takes on, and makes her one of the few female action stars who I can legitimately buy in evening out the weight disadvantage from her male adversaries in her favor.

– Expansive action. The main thing that sells its audience into seeing the film is certainly the action elements, and thanks to a versatile offering of expressionist styles and types, we get sequences that are every bit fun as they are devastating on what they inflict. There’s slick gun fights that are brunt and permanent, and there’s long take hand-to-hand combat sequences that harvest some truly impressive stunt choreography. Most importantly, the action never feels crowded or burdened with popping up every few minutes in a two hour run time, instead choosing its battles for the moments they matter most in the context of the scene to pull out some truly extraordinary feats despite its obviously minimal production budgets. It’s true that there’s a bit more choppy cuts in the editing than I would’ve liked or anticipated, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed by physicality that earned my investment, and made it easier to forgive some overzealous moments of influence by the post production.

– Relevant antagonist. Especially as is the case in modern day, where big pharma seems to be taking advantage of the people who they are sworn to protect, the villain in this movie is one who I thoroughly enjoyed despite his lack of exposition doing him anything but favors. Why he succeeds to me is two reasons. The first, his plan is one that is easy to understand without condoning. This has always been a major importance to me in my antagonists because you comprehend what motivates them with equally driving forces as the protagonists desired to stop them. Secondly, these aren’t scientists outlines as this hokey, cheesy over-the-top figures that often resonate in comic books, but instead a realistic approach to the pioneers driving evolution in directions they and us never thought possible. During the film, I often wondered if them winning would be such a bad thing, but the film’s third act outlines some maniacal approaches to their depth which clearly illustrates the line of moral ambiguity, and echoes much of the beats in science and technology that our own world faces.

– Adaptively faithful. The movie’s screenplay was written by Greg Rucka, and why that name is important is because it was the same man who created the graphic novel of the same name and infamy. So any worry that this film was going to degrade the source material or cut things that better steered the plot and conflict together can rest easy with assertion. I myself have very little experience with “The Old Guard” graphic novel, but from what I remember about the early editions, this movie covers about the first three stories that really set the precedent for the objection of the group at hand, leaving just enough development in case this film is successful and sequels for Netflix are greenlit for future installments. The movie feels like an easily accessible first step in a bigger picture for fans craving more, and Rucka’s episodic style of writing is happy to oblige with five issues of the comic that are easy to catch up on.

– Dramatic pulse. Part of what I love about the superhero genre that they rarely ever take advantage of is the tragic element to their gifts that make (In this instance) immortality anything but desirable. “The Old Guard” manifests this underlying empathy, and does while fleshing out the isolation of the circumstance that not only helps you understand and appreciate the unity of the group, but also outlines this as more of a curse than a gift as frequently elaborated at. This allows the film to succeed on a few instances of dramatic influence that maintain vulnerability even when the characters are anything but vulnerable, standing as the lone instances of humanity left from within them that is quite literally dying to get out.

– Time well spent. Even with an ambitious run time and often clunky exposition told through the ears of Nile, the film’s overall pacing and storytelling movements were smooth enough to where I never felt bored or stalled in my investment. The first act is definitely the weakness, feeling like the story has already been happening when we catch up to the group, but the second and third acts supplant more than enough devastation in rumbling action sequences and a mental chess game between sides that reaches a boiling point when we learn some people aren’t who they seem. It made much of my watch flow by with the kind of precision that I wish Netflix’s earlier-this-year action film “Extraction” maintained, despite me enjoying that film more than “The Old Guard”, and kept my attention with a collection of scenes that constantly felt like they were throwing something pivotal at you at all times.

NEGATIVES

– Wrong media. For my money, this property would work better as a show instead of a movie, and there’s several indications that this may have been the intention before it was stitched together as a two hour property. For one, it’s the cheap production values emanating that Fox television drama similar to “Prison Break” or “Lucifer” that we’ve come to expect. The imagery and cinematography offer nothing of substance or challenge to aesthetically treat us, and the musical choices for the film are strange to say the least. Instead of carving out a lyric-less musical score like all movies do, the film includes some actual songs involving lyrics that are every bit distracting as they are meandering to the emotions that are trying to be conveyed in the context of the scene. Aside from this, the cheap twists and grounded storytelling feels very episodic in the way it hits on the finer points of its narrative, and at times feels so disjointed that it feels like two hour long episodes stitched together instead of one cohesive property that begins and ends inside of its walls.

– Lack of vulnerability. I previously mentioned that there are these occasional instances where the curse of being gifted catches up to the characters, and weighs heavily on their conscience. The problem with this is it doesn’t appear until the second hour of the movie, so for the entire first hour we see this group who can literally walk through bullets as nothing more than momentary speedbumps, before crushing their adversities time and time again. This makes it difficult to invest in the urgency of the plot, but also makes much of the story’s already bumpy introduction plagued in predictability that takes far too long to peak our curiosity. The rules of the gifts do adapt for some as the film goes on, but until the very last fight sequence of the movie, it doesn’t attempt to challenge this newfound vulnerability in anyway that earns anxiety or uncertainty for your investment to the characters, and doesn’t value the first hour anywhere near its climatic resolution.

– Sequel-baiting. What more would you expect for a superhero narrative? It might not seem obvious right away, but when you realize how we learn so very little about where these gifts came from, or the rushed flashback sequences of our crew in past generations, you’ll see that an inevitable second chapter is right around the corner. I myself have no problems with sequel-baiting until it starts to take away from the movie you’re currently watching, and that’s the problem here. Ideally with the ending, there’s that convenient wink-and-nod to the audience that further adventures await these characters, but beyond that a tacked-on pre-credits scene for a subplot that was mentioned heavily during the second act, then dropped spontaneously. Apparently, the signs were there all along, and with the promise of so much to look forward to in the second movie, it lessens what about this chapter made it memorable or remotely satisfying in the currently glaring plot holes that persist within these gifts.

– Thin characterization. While not as bad as a recent movie I watched like “Greyhound”, the complete lack of exposition and screen time with anyone who isn’t Theron or Ejiofor weighs a burden on the film. Two of the characters in the group may or may not be involved in a relationship. I’m thankful for this aspect of their characterization, because I learned absolutely nothing else about them that made them any different from any other member of the group. Schoenaerts character is equally cryptic, meant to be nothing more than a Robin to Theron’s Batman, with no history or life previously that he’s holding onto. Finally, Layne’s Nile is hinted at being the future for this group, but this is (Again) without explaining how she got the gifts to begin with, or if she has a family waiting for her that will wonder about her current disappearance. I’ve said it a million times, but when I know more about the characters, I care more about the characters, and outside of Theron, I couldn’t care if the others laid, stayed or prey’d.

My Grade: 6/10 or C