Sommerleigh Pollonais – Senior Writer
What The Old Guard lacks in heart, it more than makes up for with style and some sweet, sweet action sequences.
Based on the graphic novels of the same name, The Old Guard is Netflix’s latest foray into bombastic action and for the most part, it delivers. The good news is for fans of the comics (c’est moi) they follow the story threads very closely for the most part; there are some changes in the final act for screen time sake. Some adaptations tend to stick to broad strokes, but this movie gave me all of the story beats I enjoyed in the books.
The chosen cast also lives up to their respective characters and I can honestly say I didn’t have a favorite. I loved all of ’em, from Charlize Theron as team leader and oldest immortal in the group, Andy to Matthias Schoenaerts (Red Sparrow) as Booker, Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin) as Joe, Luca Marinelli as Nicky and Kiki Lane as the newest member of the group Nile. Every one of our heroes are fun to watch. And don’t worry about Marwan. I promise you he’s much better here as Joe than he was as, ahem, Jafar.
The downside here is the waste of the very talented Chiwetel Ejiofor, but to be fair to the film, the comic version of his character doesn’t have that much “screen time” either. There also isn’t much in terms of the drama and emotion of the story. Sadly more time is focused on moving the action forward than developing the heart of it. It’s a shame because there’s a lot there to dig into, with the struggle of immortality, the loss of all that connects you to the world and of course, dealing with the difference between living, and feeling alive.
It’s not that they don’t have these moments, they just don’t have any weight to them and you can tell they wanted to keep this action movie rooted heavily on the action side of things.
Still, I enjoyed The Old Guard and I think fans of the comics will too. As much as I appreciate having both equally, a little style over substance can sometimes be a good thing.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
For more of my take on this film you can check out my video review here. a Quick Bite Review of another Netflix action bonanza Extraction you can click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apoclaypse come.
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