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Charlize Theron leads a group of immortal warriors in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s new superhero genre.
By A.O. Scott
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“The Old Guard” might well have been called “The New Blood” because that’s what he’s looking for to pump the kind of tired superheroes, with a moderate degree of good fortune and a lot of blood. With the well-known film studio franchises closed, Netflix has the opportunity to introduce a new team of especially professional warriors, drawn from the pages of Greg Rucka’s graphic novel series, presented through director Gina Prince-Bythewood and unleashed in opposition to a bad CEO of the great tech-bro and his heavily armed servants.
The wrestlers, led by the fearless and livid Andy (Charlize Theron), have no complicated costumes or adjust egos, and all share the same superpower, which is not dying. Or not to stay dead. When those henchmen beat them with bursts of automatic rifles, Andy and his colleagues fall and bleed, but jump again, the wounds fade temporarily, to wipe out their surprised attackers.
Andy’s the boss because he’s been doing this longer, since ancient times, when he passed through Andromaque. Others come with Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli), lovers who met cute on both sides of the Crusades, and Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), who joined during the Napoleonic Wars. Much of “The Old Guard,” which gently paves the way for imaginable sequels, has to do with the initiation of the team’s new member, a young American Marine named Nile Freeman (KiKi Layne).
There have been a few others over the centuries. One thing Nile learns as he struggles to perceive his immortality is that he accompanies her through the fine print. Not a vampire escape clause nailed to the heart, but something more sophisticated and philosophical. The time comes for everyone, faster or later, and Andy’s team lives in the shadow of a perpetual loss (they are condemned to all who could love) and constant uncertainty. They are powerful, but also vulnerable.
Which is beautiful those days. No one wants arrogant heroes and blusaters, and the tone of boiling melancholy that Theron provides specifically is welcome. As a gunman in a safe western, Andy doubts his vocation, wonders how much fighting left him and whether his efforts were in vain. The world, watching bitterly, has not advanced much and it is not always imaginable to distinguish between intelligent and bad.
She and others see themselves as a kind of non-governmental humanitarian intervention force, even if what they do most is killing people. This contradiction annoys Nile and represents a moral circle that “The Old Guard” is not entirely square. It’s great to hear the useful things those immortals have done, but what we need them to do is throw punches, throw axes, break bones and blow things up.
Prince-Bythewood obeys, maintaining the fast and ferocious action and avoiding the strong and exaggerated kicks stopped by C.G.I. She is a filmmaker who never condescends with her material, but whatever the genre: romantic comedy (“Love – Basketball”), an adult tale (“The Secret Life of Bees”) or a commercial exhibition melodrama (“Beyond the Lights”) – her films are based on a human interest and are cunning to the other people they represent.
In this case, the emotional axis is the complicated bond protected by a mentor between Andy and Nile. Andy is wise, but also tired, at the threat of wasting the meaning of the goal that has sustained him during who knows how many years. Nile, for his part, has enlisted in a cause he has chosen and understands, and oscillates between self-confidence and panic. Layne, a star in “If Beale Street Could Talk” about Barry Jenkins, is a quiet and intense presence, skilled for the kind of small gesture (a look here, a shrug or a grimace there) that Prince-Bythewood has an ability to form ice.
The story, Rucka wrote the script, doesn’t seem very original, but he’s smart enough to arouse voluntary interest in the characters. An ex-C.I.A. Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), recruits the team for a project that turns out to be a trap. Pharmaceutical industry chief Merrick (Harry Melling), whose hooded sports coats are the best signifiers of the horror of rich men in the 21st century, needs to gather immortal DNA for new drugs. The charitable varnish he puts in his megalomania doesn’t lie to anyone, maybe Copley. He expects merrick’s anonymous gunmen to have decent health insurance.
And also that the forthcoming installments will be based on the promise of this beginning, which suggests all kinds of developments imaginable. There are many stories to cover, as well as various long-term conflicts within the old guard and between them and the rest of the world. Normally I’m not someone waiting for sequels, but I guess if you live long enough …
Old GuardRated R. Lots of murders. Running time: 2 hours and five minutes. Watch it on Netflix.
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