The Old Guard : Axing away the "immortal superhero" genre mercilessly

“Do I have a choice in this?”

Asks the newly, and forcibly, recruited immortal mercenary Nile Freeman (played spiritedly by Kiki Layne) to the oldest one, Andy or Andromache of Scythia (played by the invincible Charlize Theron).

Andy’s reply to that in negative, is not what matters here. There is something else noticeable in this premise. Let’s dig deeper into that, shall we? Did someone just say “choice”? Hell, yeah!!!

It’s important to put some disclaimers right here before you proceed ahead.

This article is not a typical movie review. I’m not going to talk about the plot of the movie. I’m not going to judge how good or bad this movie is. I’m not going to do the pros and cons charade of it’s narrative and technical film-making. I’m not going to rate this film for you. And reading this article is not going to make it easier for you to decide whether you want to watch this new outing on Netflix or not.

Since, I’m not getting paid by anyone to write this article, I’m also not going to be bothered with any of the usual movie review tropes. And no, I haven’t watched enough Netflix originals to tell you whether it’s the best action flick on the platform or not. Well, it certainly is one of the better ones.

“You said you had answers!”

“ I didn’t say you’d like them.”

I’m going to share what hit me most while watching the movie. I’m going to lay bare what touched me most, what stood out and what worked for me. And I’m going to take a huge juicy bite into the flesh of the characters that live in this fantastical world adapted on screen from a recent graphic novel by the same name written by Greg Rucka. Basically, I’m going to pour my heart out about how this movie made me feel, raw and real.

Yes, I’m going to talk about the things that work in this movie. I guess, we’ve already had more than enough share of negativity and devastation in 2020. Enough with that already, we don’t need more of that.

And though there are no major spoilers here to watch out for, don’t say later that I didn’t warn y’all. Before and after watching the movie, both are great times to read this article, especially if you’re looking to enhance your movie watching experience.

The Old Guard offers well fleshed out female characters playing “Unwilling Superheroes”, leading the pack and even saving the day and all.

Charlize Theron as Andy and Kiki Layne as Nile in the new Netflix Original “The Old Guard”

Nile is a black female US Marine, specializing in combat, posted at Afghanistan, at the center of the conflict zones, raised by a strong single mother. Nile comes from the family of fighters and survivors as Andy puts it. And she is just coming to the terms of her immortality and the choices (or lack thereof), this immortality presents to her.

As the direct consequence of her new-found “super power”, she is facing the only choice of joining a small band of immortal mercenaries like herself. And that would mean leaving her job, her friends & family, her freedom, basically her entire life as she knew it.

And that means largely living in shadows, trying to never get caught and caged in, dying and living over and over again, getting hurt and living through every piece of that pain, for hundreds or maybe thousands of years, who knows.

Immortality and healing superpowers don’t look all that cool now, do they?

The Old Guard goes beyond the superficial glamour of the “Immortal Superhero” genre and makes it so human. That’s what put this movie aside from its peers and that’s where the true strength of this story lies.

What also helps make it so relatable that the world inhabited by these immortals is not a fantastical alternative reality. It’s our world. These are our times. These superheroes are living with us. And they’re up against the big pharma, not some mythical or alien made up super power. The dangers are very real and so is the struggle.

Ok, confession time.

I have had a major girl-crush on Charlize Theron.

There, I said it. And god, it feels good. No, it feels amazing actually. I definitely have a thing for bad-ass strong female characters, fictional or otherwise. And Charlize Theron (and let’s pronounce her last name correctly, alright?) plays those characters with such conviction that it’s almost impossible to separate the spectacle of her on-screen bad-assery from her fierce yet graceful face. It helps to have the amazingly fit and strong body that she has.

“That woman has forgotten more ways to kill than entire armies will ever learn.”

Charlize Theron as her new immortal character, no nonsense Andy in The Old Guard

In “The Old Guard”, Charlize plays Andy (Andromache of Scythia), the leader of the small covert group of immortal warriors, the oldest of the lot. How old Andy really is? That’s a question that lingers throughout the movie and is left unanswered to tease the audience.

Charlize has given so many layers to Andy’s character. She switches effortlessly between the protective oldest guardian of her group members and the axe wielding merciless warrior. She is silently mourning the pain of losing all her loved ones, even her immortal companions, for thousands of years. The pain, the anger, the frustration, the tiredness, the depression and the burden of living for a long period of time is so flawlessly essayed by Charlize Theron. She makes her superhero Andy very real. And that’s no mean feat.

How do you do that, girl, and then so much more? How?

“Just because we keep living doesn’t mean we stop hurting.”

Charlize Theron is the action hero role model that we all have needed always. While Furiosa in Mad Max: The Fury Road has reached a cult status of her own, I totally dig her gorgeous fight sequences, especially the close combat scenes, in Atomic Blonde.

Though it doesn’t present it’s characters with an alternative, The Old Guard, I believe is the only superhero film that touches upon the concept of consent and right to choose.

“We don’t get a say on how it ends but we can control how we live.”

Nile candidly tells Andy that she might not have a choice about an immortal life in the long run but she still has time to live this life with her loved ones, and that she isn’t ready to give that up yet. And Andy understands. No emotional drama, no moral lectures. Andy supports Nile’s decision to walk away from this life. It’s Nile’s call to join their group, or at least when she wants to join.

The Old Guard makes a hell of a case why there should be more diversity and inclusion in film-making. It took a female director, Gina Prince-Bythewood at the helm, and the backing of a female producer, Charlize Theron, to give us this film presenting the most naturally diverse band of superheroes and world saviors. It takes a woman to think about the concerns of consent in how one wants to live their life, even for super humans.

And that’s the true win of The Old Guard - a narrative that seamlessly integrates people from diverse cultures, ethnicities, races, genders, sexualities, time periods and age groups into a compelling and hardcore superhero flick with some super slick action.

Oh, the diversity of the film is astounding.

Look at the character-appropriate superb casting.

Andromache of Scythia played by Charlize Theron in The Old Guard

Andy is the leader of these immortals, whom she has brought together over a very long period of history. She is an ancient female warrior, sporting a chic and practical short pixie haircut and no nonsense grunge look complete with gunjees, jeggings, boots, rugged jackets and a mythical axe. I, of course, love her a bit more here for bringing back exactly the same hairdo that I had sported and loved, a couple of years ago.

In her group is Booker, the second oldest one. Booker is conflicted and sets a chain of events so far out of his understanding and control. Booker is sharply played by the Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts. There are ample hints suggesting that his character of Booker is a European.

And then there are the gay lovers, Joe and Nicky, played by Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli, respectively. Marwan is a Tunisian-Muslim born into an immigrant family in Netherlands. Luca is an Italian actor with beautiful dreamy eyes.

Their characters, Joe and Nicky, are a romantic couple of “gay immortal superheroes”. Yes, take a moment to wrap your heads around that, if you need.

Joe and Nicky in The Old Guard

Joe and Nicky are deeply in love with each other. The tender, warm and romantic moments of their love story can put any love saga to shame. They’re the only ones who have found love in their immortal lives and are saved by the curse of loneliness that immortality bears. This is a love story you might find yourself rooting for without any bias or inhibition, to may be your own surprise. None of them is an alpha male or with feminine traits. They’re just a couple of human beings, hopelessly in love with each other. Watch out for the monologue from Joe for Nicky in the unlikeliest of the situations for scope of romance. Their love story is crushing labels and stereotypes of being gay and being in love. Such beautiful, heart-melting, dripping in romance poetry has not been written in a while. Steal these lines for your lover and see the magic happening.

“I love this man beyond measure and reason. He’s not my boyfriend! He’s all and he’s more.”

And there is the latest kid on the block, Nile, whose character we’ve already dug into at the beginning of this article. Nile saves the day when it matters the most. It doesn’t matter if she still barely understands her own immortality. She braids her long hair in tight braids, still keeping it interesting, and sports colorful bomber jackets, as suitable to her young and modern yet tough war veteran character.

The versatile group of immortals in The Old Guard

Even the antagonists are interesting, especially the morally conflicted Copley, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Copley is fascinated by how much positive impact every single deed by Andy has had over humanity just in the last 150 years that he could trace back. This is an interesting take on superheroes and their purpose.

There is a good Harry Potter connection for the movie franchise fans. Watch out for that one too.

And as if all this wasn’t enough, the movie ends on an interesting cliffhanger bringing the Asian diversity to the story too, and more girl power to the eclectic gang of immortals. Let’s not spoil it any further for you.

There are enough and obvious hints dropped to indicate that this is only the first of this new franchisee, and there will be sequels or prequels or both. In fact, the movie felt like watching an episode of a very true Netflix Original series, instead of a standalone feature film.

And I’ll certainly be waiting for more from “The Old Guard”.

Want More?

I’m thinking of doing a follow-up article to this, exploring the rampant symbolism throughout the movie, as this article is already quite long and I could still ramble on more on the characters.

Let me know in your comments if you would like me to do that follow-up article to this one, exploring the symbolism of “The Old Guard”.

#TheOldGuard #NetFlix #NetFlixIndia #NetFlixOriginals #CharlizeTheron