The Old Guard

If Charlize would kiss the pharmacist who treats her shoulder, this movie’s circle of bizarreness would be closed. The Old Guard is an odd mix of Bram Stoker’s existential motifs, almost parodically overwrought racial, gender and LGBT correctness, and every possible cliché of the action and sci-fi genres, all with excessive focus on the emotions and motivations of the characters, which is sometimes effective and sometimes silly. However, the result is still better and more cohesive than another recent Netflix team/buddy flick…you know, that one by Bay. (07/29/2020)

At first glance Old Guard looked like a totally great action movie but it is quite the opposite. It is totally dumb starting with its premise, dominated by extremely unpleasant Charlize Theron but which has an unexpectedly quite solid fighting scenes. What can I say – Old Guard isn’t Mad Max for Charlize to behave in the same way to achieve a totally different result. (07/15/2020)

With cinemas closed, at least Netflix is spoiling us with higher-budget movies, even if it’s not great, in the current drought is it at least fine entertainment. Charlize Theron leads a group of immortal soldiers who have lived for centuries, but are now threatened with discovery and must do whatever it takes to preserve their identities. The film has pretty decent action, which though not as good as Extraction or 6 Underground, is pretty bloody and a few shots are memorable. There's a twist and the actors do their best. Some might be bothered by the fact that the film is very gender correct and not very clever, but that doesn't bother me that much. The only thing that bothered me was that the flashbacks didn't get more space, as if the film had been set during the Crusades or the time of the witch hunts, the rating would have been very different. I wouldn't mind a sequel. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere***, Suspense***. 6/10. (07/16/2020)

Greg Rucka just reels off stories like this, one after the other. The Old Guard has excellent subject matter. The idea has potential, but the product doesn’t fully realize it. The action is fairly solid, but the music-video-style visuals are disappointing and the R&B soundtrack kills every other scene. Charlize looks great with an ax and, if they had focused more on the past, this could have turned out to be exceptionally good movie. As it stands, it is just a reasonably good TV movie that promises a more entertaining sequel. (07/11/2020)

The trailers didn’t interest me much, and I was quite worried about the story. In the end, the film didn’t turn out very well, in my opinion. Sure, Charlize Theron physically prepared for her role again; I watched a few videos, and it’s clear she dedicated a lot of time to preparation, with choreography that looked decent. However, when the final product turns into an epileptic spectacle during action sequences due to the cameraman and editor, all that effort goes to waste. Truly, the action wasn’t impressive and was weak in every respect. Besides Charlize, there’s no real connection with the other characters; the supporting cast plays a role akin to a fifth wheel. Believe it or not, despite such criticism, the film had a few decent scenes with above-average potential. The main plot setup was well done, but as the film progressed towards its end, the number of questions grew, and the script became a sieve. I don’t even want a sequel; I can vividly imagine that no drastic changes would occur. And the first one simply isn’t good. That’s a FACT. I give it 43%. P.S. The film comes with one of the worst soundtracks in recent times, which further drags it down. (07/17/2020)