Netflix’s The Old Guard – Mid Tier Action That Overstays Its Welcome (Early Review)

Netflix needs to stop being so Netflix-ish. The Old Guard is their latest action adventure starring Charlize Theron as Andy, a badass woman who leads a group of immortal mercenaries. When their immortality is exposed, a cat and mouse adventure ensues and they must fight for everything they stand for. Sounds cool, right? Right. Unfortunately even with a intriguing story, everything just falls apart.

Considering the fact that The Old Guard is based off a comic book series of the same name, there was definitely many different paths in which the story and ensuing adventures could have taken inspiration from. However, the film consists of a crammed experience filled with endless exposition that seemingly never amounted to anything despite how quickly the film shifts. The source material arguably would have worked better as a mini-series allowing for more a deeper exploration of these stories. As a result of the film’s fast paced and convoluted plot, viewers will surely find themselves constantly zoning in and out at material with little to no impact on the grand scheme of the story. That being said, seeing that Rucka, the creator of the comic book itself wrote the screenplay, it shows that he was trying his best to give fans of the property a full fledged glimpse of his story.

However, if viewers manage to get past all the worthless nonsense, The Old Guard does feature some fun albeit surprisingly short action sequences and spread. While Prince-Bythewood clearly knows how to direct stylized action, that fact simply is not enough to make the film truly stand out. Theron’s performance as Andy may be perfectly fine but we have seen her do much better in such actions films as Mad Max Fury Road. Meanwhile, the remainder of the cast is so forgettable that they aren’t even worth mentioning though Harry Melling’s performance as Merrick, the film’s villain, further proves that audiences won’t see him as anything other then Dudley from the Harry Potter film series.

Being an Netflix original, The Old Guard, fortunately or not, easily falls into their horrible criteria for filmmaking. First, there’s a horrible soundtrack filled with bad, Tik Tok worthy songs, more predictability than a children’s book, and finally, there’s just enough violence to bring viewers though never seemed interested enough to ever take that extra step to give it that spice. Perhaps if it was maybe 20 minutes shorter, it could have been a better experience but as it stands, the film is sure to leave viewers biding their time until the next inevitable fight scene.

At the end of the day, there should be no reason to rush to see The Old Guard. While it is definitely a fine film to have on in the background, it is not one worth devoting time and effort to.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Jaeden Noel