The Old Guard is an action movie with a mysterious group of warriors! The film is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood who also wrote and directed the romantic film, Beyond the Lights (2014). It is based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka, who also worte the screenplay, and featured art by Leandro Fernandez. There is the falling of bullets on a floor, there are bodies of soldiers, and then we see the body of Andy (Charlize Theron) with her deathly stare. Theron has Andy as a world weary and experienced warrior. Her name isn’t said at any time until much later in the film. We hear her voice wondering if she has met her end. There are boots that walk up to see her body. Next, there is Andy walking in sunglasses, in sun-bright Morocco. She makes her way through the streets as a man rides a motorcycle to meet with her. Andy hands Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), a book, a first edition of Don Quixote, 1612 in English. Schoenaerts was in the Terrence Malick drama, A Hidden Life (2019). Booker is a part of the team and his involvement is important. He has a mission, a hostage situation in the Sudan, she tries to refuse and Booker notes that Joe and Nicky are at the hotel.
While Booker checks in, Andy looks at the news reports of conflict deaths, she doesn’t notice of a group of tourists women taking a selfie. She goes over to take there picture, sees herself caught in the photo, and deletes it. Booker takes Andy to the room where she is reunited with Nicky (Luca Marinelli) and Joe (Marwan Kenzari). Marinelli was in the drama series Trust. Kenzari played Jafar in Aladdin (2019). Nicky and Joe may have an interesting relationship, but it is not shown until later. The men all speak in Italian, languages is one of the few characteristics they have for their long lives. Nicky has brought Andy some baklava. The men bet on Andy and she takes a bite to identify ingredients and also location where Nicky bought the dessert. Booker and Andy walk through a rainy marketplace to meet with ex-CIA agent, Mr. Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Ejiofor is an Academy Award winning actor who was last in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019). The character is similar to the Watchers in the Highlander franchise. Copley debriefs Andy about the mission, they are seen by Nicky using a sniper rifle while Joe adjusts the channel to listen in on the conversation. He says his wife died two years ago. Andy says the payment will be charged after the mission.
A helicopter takes the group, dressed mostly in black with sunglasses and weapons, to the South Sudan. Night, at a camp, guards are taken down by Nicky’s sniper rifle, and they cut through the wire gate. The group takes down soldier, one by Booker’s sword, they see the children’s shoes. The door is breached and and they enter an empty room. I imagine an explosion would cause the girls to scream. An ambush, gun men shoot them, and we get a repeat of the opening. An experienced team wouldn’t stand there when the lights shine on them. We see the life back in Andy’s eyes, a bullet drops from Booker’s cheek, and they try to quietly get up. They are immortals in the Wolverine-style. This group is interesting with the Highlander-type story of the costs of immortality. The mercenaries are surprised to see them alive and the Old Guard ruthlessly kills them, Andy using her labrys, this is a double bladed axe from ancient Greece. She realizes there are no hostages. A camera, with Copley watching, is destroyed by Andy. He makes his report with a photo of the team and a Civil War photo that has a notation that one of the soldiers may be Booker. The Old Guard buries the girls’ shoes and Andy says that they know about their existence and they have to find Copley.
Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers are armed, one them, Corporal Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne) passes out candy to the local kids. Layne was in the sci fi film Captive State (2019). Nile is our point of view character, a warrior, but the world of The Old Guard is new to her. She sent on a mission to escort a local woman and takes with her several women soldiers. Nile lowers her gun, takes off her helmet, and shows Afghani women a photo of a man. The other soldiers keep watch as Nile speaks translated by the woman about finding the man. The lead woman says there is no man around. She later eyes a door. The soldiers cover the door as the translator leads the other women away. Gun fire. The door is kicked in and Nile shoots the gunman. He falls and Nile tries to keep him stablized. The gunman uses a knife to slash her throat and then dies. Dizzy (Natacha Karam) tries to cover the wound with her hand, the sound starts to fade, and a tear drops from Nile’s eye. The sun is overheard as a train passed with the Old Guard in one of the cars. Andy falls asleep and has visions of Nile along with the others. Nile suddenly wakens from her vision with a patch on her throat.
The Old Guard tries work out the identity of the woman in their visions. Visions is new for immortals, my guess is that every period of intense violence results in the appearance of another of The Old Guard, a former warrior. Andy tells them she is a Marine in Afghanistan. She says that has been 200 years since they had a new member. She has others go to Paris to find Copley while she retrieves the new recruit. Booker has sketched Nile and gives the page to Andy. She leaps out of the moving train. At the base, soldiers Jay and Dizzy go to check on Nile, they find her up without the patch. They are stunned to see that Nile has completely healed which she says is from a skin graft. The soldiers pass a box of Merrick Pharmacuticals. At a presentation in London, Copley watches Steven Merrick (Henry Melling), CEO of Merrick Pharmaceuticals. Melling is known as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He also appeared in the Coen brothers’ film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). His character is the typical corporate leader who wants to control what is unusual in this case The Old Guard. Merrick says he needs all of The Old Guard for Dr. Meta Kozak (Anamaria Marinca). He has Copley work with Keane (Joey Ansah) to capture them.
At the base, Nile is informed that she is being sent to Germany for tests, her fellow soldiers are silent at her walking in. I think most soldiers who have a member somehow recover from a mortal wound, wouldn’t shut down, they would love that a KIA is back for any reason. Nile finds time for herself before two soldiers go to tell her that her transport is ready. Andy knocks them out and flips the gun that was held by Nile. She introduces herself as Andromache of Scythia. This could be the mythological Andromache, wife of Hector of Trojan War fame. Andy drives the unconscious Nile across the desert in a Humvee. If it was stolen from the base, the Humvee can easily be tracked by satellite or helicopter. Nile revives from the jostling in the back of the Humvee. She has no restraints of any kind, mistake, and kicks open the rear hatch to roll out. Andy stops the Humvee and shoots Nile in the head. She gets frustrated at the revival time for Nile. It is a tense relationship, but they need each other. Later, Copley calls Andy the “Eternal Warrior”, I think this is a nod to the Valiant Comics character who is also immortal. The pacing is a bit slow, but the action scenes are strong. They have to recover lost team members from Merrick Pharmaceuticals to confront this threat to their existence. The Old Guard features an action spin on immortals, violent, but with some interesting characters.
Four Labrys out of Five!
#TheOldGuard, #GinaPrinceBythewood, #CharlizeTheron, #MatthiasSchoenaerts, #LucaMarinelli, #MarwanKenzari
No comments:
Post a Comment