What do you get when you cross Dudley from Harry Potter with five immortal beings? A pretty great action movie. Charlize Theron is comfortable and impressive as an immortal warrior who has escaped detection for an unknown amount of years until a new immortal is found when a US Marine (Kiki Layne, If Beale Street Could Talk) survives a stabbing on the frontline. Harry Melling is a predictable but efficient villain for the Wolverine-style healing warriors.
The movie explores the way that people who are different are treated through history and the debate between scientific progression and individual freedom to life, along with some fantastic action sequences. The music is very well matched to those action sequences and the special effects are especially impressive because they are used in aid of the storyline rather than just for show.
There is a lot of information to introduce but it is nicely sprinkled throughout the action, and there is a great twist that you immediately realise that you should have seen all along. It is a modern movie with some effortless diversity in the casting and characters, and it is refreshing to see a female hero and in particular a black woman in the traditionally male roles of warrior and soldier. It meshes the new and old weapons and the qualms that comes with covert work in the age of social media. The next chapter in this universe should be eagerly awaited.
‘The Old Guard’ is available to stream on Netflix.
Pep Reviews 