The Old Guard (2020) Review

This film made its way to Netflix and I have now seen The Old Guard and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a group of immortal mercenaries fight to keep their identity secret when a new member is revealed.

Main Character

Charlize Theron plays the main character Andy here and I think she is fantastic here. If you have seen Atomic Blonde or Mad Max: Fury Road then you know she can pull off a great action role and she is no different here, she is awesome and totally believable in the action scenes making every fight that more intense. They also do a great job with her character, I thought she was really interesting and a certain thing they do with her character just helps boost her interest even more for me. 

Supporting Characters

Newcomer Kiki Layne plays Nile, the newcomer to the group and I thought she was good too. She was also great in the action scenes and her and Theron had really good chemistry together here that makes there story really interesting. Every member of the immortals team is really good, they have interesting backstories and you are given interesting reasons to care about there characters and motivations. Chiwetel Ejiofor has a role here which wasn't as large as I initially expected but he does a good job here. His character has an interesting and well done motivation here I just maybe wish we could have seen him more as I think there was potential to do something even better with his character. 

Story

The fact that these characters are immortal could have posed difficulties in its story telling but this film did a really good job, they show and explain enough of the backstories to keep you interested and intrigued without going overboard with it. The dynamic of the team is well done, and even though having a new member join the team is a trope I thought it worked well here. But my one issue here was the film has a weak main villain and his motivations are as generic as you can get which took away from the experience. But it isn't a huge issue as there is so much going on that is good here but it is an issue. 

Script

The script is good, there is some nicely woven in humour here which helped build the friendship between the crew which made them better characters. Also surprisingly there is some really well done drama here that worked and made me care about the characters on the screen, I even think the cheesy dialogue is done well here. 

Style

When looking at the style, the action is my priority and it is done fantastically. It is filmed so well, it is hard hitting, brutal and exciting. The fact that these characters are immortal allows the filmmakers to come up with some really unique action scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Overall

Overall, this might be one of the most surprising films I have seen in recent memory as I loved it, I can honestly say that I think this is the best film that Netflix has produced. If you are a fan of action films I think this is a must watch and will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout and hopefully Netflix can make a franchise out of this as there is so much potential.

Rating - 9/10