Endless fight

Charlize Theron kicks butt in Netflix comic book movie The Old Guard, writes Emily Colston

L iving forever isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

Just ask Andromache of Scythia. Andy, as she prefers to be known, has been fighting to protect humanity for some 6000 years, dying and being resurrecting hundreds of times, and she’s getting a little tired of it.

“The worst part for her is just feeling like she’s not doing anything,” Charlize Theron, who plays the ancient warrior in new Netflix graphic novel adaptation The Old Guard, said in a recent interview.

“Is what we’re doing enough? Is what we’re doing actually changing anything? Are we making (things) better, or are we making the world worse?”

“She’s lost faith in herself, she’s lost faith in humanity. Everything she does feels like a drop in the bucket.”

Andy has been leading her small team of immortal vigilantes for centuries, taking out anyone targeting the vulnerable or innocent.

“This is an elite, small army of people with a great set of abilities. They don’t die easily,” Theron said.

But lately she’s been wondering if humanity is worth all that effort.

Things change when a new immortal joins their ranks. Their close-knit group hasn’t welcomed a new member in a very, very long time, so it’s a big adjustment for everyone, not least newcomer Nile (KiKi Layne), a US Marine who ‘newborn’ immortal reawakens something in Andy, gives her a renewed sense of purpose.

“The moment that Andy wants it all over and done with is when a new immortal shows up. Their relationship is the emotional core throughout the film,” director Gina PrinceBythewood explained in a recent interview. reframe what it means to be a female with this film and make that a normal thing: our toughness and badassness and courage,” she said.

Indeed, Theron reckons women are now redefining the action genre.

“We don’t want to … fight like men, we want to fight like we would fight and figure out what this looks like,” she said.

“We want to fight smarter, we want to fight in a way that makes sense, and we want to do it in a way where we’re still part of emotional storytelling.”

It’s a shift that Layne credits to Theron herself.

“Charlize … has really shown what women have been capable of in this genre of action films. Showing we are just as kick ass, just as tough, and just as able to pick up and take the lead in the film. We’re not just some guy’s love interest or side story, or whatever. No, we are capable of taking it on.”

And take it on they most definitely do.

Theron: This is an elite, small army of people with a great set of abilities. They don’t die easily

The Old Guard, now streaming on Netflix