During the semester, my friends and I have a tradition of watching movies together on Thursday nights. Normally, we grab dinner, hijack a lecture hall, and project it onto the big screen, but obviously with COVID and online classes, that’s not possible right now. Instead, we reconvened over zoom this weekend for our first movie night of the semester. Netflix’s The Old Guard ended up being our feature film.
I originally wasn’t going to write this. Goodness knows I have other things I should be doing. But I enjoyed The Old Guard so much more than I expected that I had to put this out there. So here’s a brief review of what I liked and disliked about the movie. (Vague spoilers!)
What I liked
EVERYTHING about Nicky and Joe
THIS is the kind of LGBT representation we need in film.
The whole movie subverts what we have come to expect from an action flick. But, in my opinion, The Old Guard’s portrayal of Nicky and Joe’s frankly beautiful relationship steals the show. The former crusaders exemplify a timeless love powerful enough to transcend empires, cultures, and belief systems. It’s a romance skillfully captured in small moments: from the way Nicky and Joe fight in each other’s orbit, to the way they seek each other’s gaze first when they come back to life.
Their interactions and dialogue prove equally priceless, but Joe’s speech puts it best. He says (about Nicky), “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s all, and he’s more.”
My only complaint here is that I wish we could have gotten more from them.
Girl Power
Did I already say this movie had amazing representation?
Well, I’ll say it again. This movie busted through Hollywood stereotypes faster than our favorite squad of immortals runs through ammo. Female representation in The Old Guard passes the Bechdel Test, the Duvernay Test, the Peirce Test, and pretty much every other equal gender equality metric I could find on the internet. Kiki Layne and Charlize Theron portray dynamic, fierce characters who garner instant audience investment through (*gasp*) more than just their appearances. Their performances shine from opening credits to closing, through hard-hitting fight sequences and emotional exposition. It’s hard to find a better badass duo of leading ladies than Nile and Andy.
It also certainly helps to have an crew of equally amazing women behind them. A staggering 85% of The Old Guard’s post-production team was female. In leading the production, director Gina Prince-Bythewood became the first Black woman to run point on a big-budget comic book adaptation.
The bottom line? The Old Guard proves that women are more than capable of producing and starring in action movies, thank you very much.
Its BALANCE
When your main characters are immortal mercenaries who die and come back to life constantly, an action-packed screenplay runs the risk of taking a turn into slasher territory. The Old Guard mercifully avoids venturing down that path. While the movie features plenty of gore, it’s done in a manner that emphasizes the fragility of human life rather than dismissing its value. The bloodshed and choreographed physicality of the movie tell a story instead of angling for sheer shock value, and the action sequences are offset by plenty of universe-building and meaningful character development. Basically my two favorite things coexisting in perfect harmony.
The soundtrack
Yeah, I know. It seems like I mention the soundtrack of literally any movie or TV series that I review in a positive light. I can explain this trend in two ways. One: good movies tend to have great soundtracks. (See: Inception, Jurassic Park, Gladiator, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings… I could go on.) And two: the quality of a soundtrack plays a significant role in my enjoyment of any form of media, from shows to video games.
Anyway, I digress. What I really wanted to say here is that The Old Guard’s soundtrack perfectly complements the action on screen. Instrumental sequences build tension in all the right places, and the interjection of hip hop, pop, and rap music complements the movie’s myriad settings and fight sequences. My favorite example comes during Andy’s solo battle against a small army of soldiers in an abandoned French church, while Ruelle’s “The World We Made” plays in the background. And “Born Alone Die Alone” by Madalen Duke provides the perfect refrain throughout the film, both musically and thematically.
A cool concept executed near-flawlessly
When presented with this kind of ambitious, compelling concept filmmakers tend either to fall short of the initial vision or to excel beyond the audience’s wildest expectations.
Which category does The Old Guard fall into, you ask. Let me turn that question back on you. Which direction does this review seem to be trending?
Look, the premise of The Old Guard is straight-up cool. I don’t know how else to put it. The idea of a world history shaped by the actions of a small group of immortals gave me serious The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel vibes. I loved those books as a kid, but I honestly thought The Old Guard delved into the logistics and psychological ramifications of immortality in a much more provocative way, and I found The Old Guard’s characters much more compelling. Beyond that, this movie somehow managed to cram a millennium of background information into two hours of screen time, instead of six novels. It did so in a way that didn’t feel like a rushed, info-dump, let’s-get-to-the-action set up. Color me impressed.
What I disliked
The multi-century backstory could have been more fleshed out
I know this seems completely contradictory to the last entry on my “liked” list. To be fair, it’s mostly a selfish request. I want more.
The Old Guard barely broke the surface of a storyline that could easily fill several seasons worth of television. I would love to see an expansion of some of the backstories hinted at in the film. (i.e. Andy and Quynh’s relationship, Booker’s background, and literally ANY part of how Nicky and Joe met, fought, and fell in love). The Old Guard did a fantastic job of establishing some intriguing lore. Given the movie’s ending, I hope we’ll get a sequel in the near future where more of our questions get answered. In the meantime, I may have to go back and read the original comics by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez in order to satisfy my curiosity.
The uncertain impetus for Booker’s betrayal
From what the movie told us, I vaguely understand Booker’s reasons for turning on the rest of the immortals. His relative youth and pervading loneliness render him a weak link. The film also makes a brief reference to Booker’s inability to save his son from illness back in the 1800’s. This explains his desire to believe that modern biotechnology could somehow harness the immortals’ abilities into a miraculous cure-all. But Booker also had to understand the abuse he and his new “family” would be met with if they turned themselves in. I would have liked more insight into his logic. His character, and Copley’s, could have used a little more dimension.
So what’s the verdict?
It takes a special movie to inspire me to race through one of these reviews during midterm season. “Special” can mean abysmally, horrifically terrible, as was the case with P.S. I Still Love You last semester. Or, it can mean the exact opposite. The Old Guard falls easily within the latter category. Netflix managed to surprise me in the best possible way with a movie that annihilated convention and stole my heart while taking my breath away. I can’t wait for more.
I would give The Old Guard a solid 8.5/10.