Theron gives ‘Old Guard’ some punch
You can understand why Charlize Theron’s Andy is in such a bad mood for so much of “The Old Guard,” even if, unlike the rest of us, she mostly doesn’t have to worry about dying.
Andy is short for Andromache the Scythian, and she has spent centuries — centuries! — trying to fight the good fight, writing wrongs and preventing deaths.
In present day, however, she’s having what you’d call a lack of motivation, even as she works to ensure it’s hard to trace her through the ages. (Realizing she has just ended up in some tourists’ photograph, she offers to take a shot for them with their phone so she can delete the previous pic.)
The three men who comprise the rest of her team of “immortals” — like her, they can’t be killed, but they also expect they eventually will lose their ability to heal from any affliction — are having trouble convincing her they should take a new assignment. One tells her it’s another chance for them to do some good.
“Have you been watching the news lately?” she asks. “Some good means nothing.”
That Andy so often is a downer should really hurt “The Old Guard,” but because Theron — also a producer on the film — is so talented, her performance helps to make it an action flick worth checking out as it debuts on Netflix.
It’s a chance to see Theron back in a butt-kicking mode that recalls her turns as Imperator Furiosa in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” and Lorraine Broughton in 2017’s oh-so-fun “Atomic Blonde,” even if “The Old Guard” isn’t quite in the class of those movies.
The rest of her quartet — Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts, “Red Sparrow”), Joe (Marwan Kenzari, “Aladdin”) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli, “Martin Eden”) — are able to convince her to take the job, which is offered up by an ex- CIA operative, Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
When they arrive at the site in South Sudan, though, they do not find what they are looking for and are ambushed. Hammered with bullets, they fall to the floor in a heap. By the time
they spring back to life, their attackers have stopped paying close attention to them and are relatively easy prey, Andy really going to town on a few of them.
Moments later, Andy stares into a camera and realizes they have been set up to be filmed. Copley, who is watching the video feed, is working for a pharmaceutical company whose CEO, Merrick (Harry Melling), believes their blood can be used for an incredibly profitable drug and wants them captured.
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, a young marine named Nile (KiKi
Layne) is killed by a man her unit was hunting. Or so everyone thinks until she awakens a short time later, the fatal gash in her neck gone. Her friends know not what to make of her, and the government is sending her away to be studied. Before that can happen, however, Andy shows up, knocks her out and takes her from the base.
When she wakes, Nile is, understandably, confused — she doesn’t believe she is what Andy says even after being shot by her and, in return, stabbing Andy — and doesn’t want the life the mysterious woman is offering.
It’s clear, however, that all near-immortal types are linked, as Nile had dreamed of them and they of her. Nile does join the team, of course, even if she’s still having thoughts about reconnecting with her family.
Along with having two talented women up front in Theron and Layne — a star of 2018’s acclaimed “If Beale Street Could Talk” who makes Nile instantly compelling — on screen, “The Old Guard” has a skilled woman behind the camera, as well, in Gina Prince-Bythewood. She made people take note with her strong debut in 2000, “Love and Basketball,” and since has directed “The Secret Life of Bees” and “Beyond the Lights,” all three of which she also wrote.
She pulls you into the world of “The Old Guard” early on, but she does let the affair drag from time to time with low-energy, character-development scenes. Nonetheless, her handling of the characters is solid — there’s a touching revelation of a samesex relationship — and she largely delivers when it comes to the action sequences.
“The Old Guard” is adapted by Greg Rucka from his 2017 Image Comics graphic-novel series of the same name, which helps to explain the care given to the characters.
Well, that is with the exception of Merrick, who is weighed down by many bad-guy cliches. Fortunately, Copley is a much more interesting antagonist, but considering the immense talent of Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), the character doesn’t get enough screen time.
It should come as no surprise, though, that there is room for at least some of these characters to return in a potential sequel “The Old Guard” seeks to set up in its closing minutes.
While “The Old Guard” isn’t top-notch fare, it offers solid entertainment value, and we wouldn’t mind a second adventure with these impossible-tokill folks — especially if many of the same people involved with making this one are back for Round Two.