The Old Guard follows a small team of immortal mercenaries, led by Andy (played by Charlize Theron), that takes in a newcomer named Nile (played by KiKi Layne). The plot seems to be a pretty predictable “action-adventure” and “coming-of-age(less)” (immortal, ha!) -themed story with a fairly traditional plot structure.
Some Positives:
🥰 Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love and Basketball, Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees) is a T A L E N T, a powerhouse, and I’m overjoyed that she became the first Black woman to direct a comic book film! I hope this means that she’ll have more opportunities to take on projects with larger budgets. ☺️ Hopefully she’s called upon whenever Marvel Studios decides that RiRi “Ironheart” Williams needs a solo film in Phase V of the MCU. Just speculatin’.
🥰 I really dig Charlize in choreographed action sequences! She can really do anything, bruh. I’m always shocked by her, but I shouldn’t be. She’s a chameleon. Over the past few years, we’ve seen her co-lead a successful comedy (Long Shot), transform into Megyn Kelly (Bombshell), and portray a struggling mother in Tully. I can dig it. Also, good on her to snag that producer cred for this film. 👏🏾 👏🏾 👏🏾
🥰 Going political: KiKi’s straight backs were beautiful. I know Black hair in the U.S. military is a contentious issue (it really shouldn’t be but…racism), but I’m glad they decided to keep them in throughout the film, with a little switch-up at the end. There’s an understated power in certain aesthetics that can seem minuscule. For me, though, these decisions are moments of empowerment, and are great examples of on-screen inclusivity/representation that I appreciate.
Eyebrow-raising thoughts:
🤨 I haven’t read the comic, but this film still seems a little too derivative. One of my initial critiques was that the pace seems to move too much like a comic, but then I realized that that decision was probably intentional. I’d love to read the comic, then the actual text of the screenplay to see how it aligned with the source material, and then re-watch this film. Successfully adapting text for the screen isn’t easy.
🤨 Ennio Morricone once said, “You can’t save a bad movie with a good score.” I think the opposite can be true too: “You can ruin a good/decent movie with a bad score.” The overall tone of the film was muddled by the inconsistent music choices—score and soundtrack. From the opening credits, to the shifts in types of music used throughout the film, I was generally confused about how I was supposed to feel. And that idea itself is problematic—I shouldn’t be forced to feel any certain way or feel challenged by the score. The music should complement the scene. Like, I’m not mad at Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed” being used as the song Nile listened to to help relieve stress, but again, something about that song, at that time, during that scene just did not make sense.
🤨 I wasn’t entirely impressed with the typical “action-adventure” acting where the actors face-off and hit each other with one-liners during a choreographed sequence, or the predictable quips and tat fights used for relationship-building. It’s a narrative crutch, and it’s kinda boring. This wasn’t my favorite Layne performance, but I’m interested in seeing more from her. I enjoyed seeing a woman who looks like me in this role. I don’t think the screenplay did enough for any of the actors in this film though, to be fair.
🤨 The time span between the falling action and conclusion was so wide bruh, that I nearly fell asleep. This film was about 45 minutes longer than it needed to be.
🤨 Going political: Using countries in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Central and South America as vehicles to highlight conflict, or problematically adding a specific colored filter when portraying those locations, is appalling, unoriginal, and a cheap tactic at this point. Screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, and film colorists who continue to regurgitate these harmful creative decisions really need to get TF over this style. It’s so archaic. A prime example of this device was used in the Chris Hemsworth-led Netflix Original Extraction, which portrayed scenes featuring Bangladesh with a yellow-toned filter, but Australia with the clearest of skylines. In The Old Guard, I can appreciate the plot point that Nile’s occupation, an active duty Marine stationed in Afghanistan, calling for the particular setting. However, what continues to be common, even when that plot point is presented, is that the environments are always eerily similar—dangerous, in crisis, in need of a White savior, etc. And this seems to be consistent trend in many action-adventure-superhero films.
…cut it, the fuck, out.